Official  Proceedings 


OF  THE 


CONVENTION. 


Masonic  Hall, 

St.  Louis ,  Mo.,  May  6th,  1880. 

At  about  12 :30  o’clock,  Gen.  John  B.  Henderson,  Chairman  of  the  Anti-Third  Term  Ex_ 
ecutive  Committee,  called  the  convention  to  order  and  nominated  E.  C.  Hubbard,  of  Ken¬ 
tucky,  to  act  as  temporary  chairman.  Carried. 

The  Hon.  E.  C.  Hubbard  addressed  the  Convention  as  follows : 

Gentlemen  of  the  Convention  :  For  the  distinguished  honor  of  being  called  upon 
to  preside  over  this  Convention,  allow  me  to  express  to  you  my  heartfelt  thanks.  We 
have  assembled  here  to-day  as  Republicans.  If  we  loved'the  Republican  party  less  there 
would  be  no  motive  why  this  concourse  of  people  should  have  gathered  together.  We 
come  here,  then,  as  Republicans  who  have  believed,  and  who  do  believe,  that  the  best 
agency  for  preserving  the  magnificent  results  of  the  war  is  the  Republican  party.  [Ap¬ 
plause.]  The  Republican  party  will  be  called  upon  to  nominate  its  candidate  for  Presi¬ 
dent.  I  only  say  what  every  man  believes  when  I  declare  that  it  is  possible  for  the  Re¬ 
publican  party  to  nominate  the  next  President  of  the  United  States.  [Applause.]  Now, 
at  a  moment  when  it  would  seem  morally  impossible  that  we  can  be  mistaken  in  the  line 
of  our  duty,  and  when  the  path  to  success  is  so  straightforward  and  so  plain,  we  are  con¬ 
fronted  with  a  great  and  impending  danger  in  the  violation  of  a  long  line  of  experience,, 
in  the  violation  of  a  tradition  that  is  more  sacred  than  law  itself.  Against  common, 
reason,  common  sense,  and  respectable  prudence,  a  party  has  arisen  in  the  land  within; 
our  ranks  who  believe,  or  affect  to  believe,  that  the  best  interests  of  that  party  lie  im 
committing  it  to  the  third-term  issue.  To  prevent  in  so  far  as  we  are  able  the  Republican 
party  from  committing  itself  to  this  issue,  and,  if  possible,  to  avert  the  impending  danger, 
is  the  mission  of  this  mass  Convention.  While  not  so  numerous  as  brave,  I  undertake  to 
say  that  this  meeting  represents  more  people  than  were  ever  represented  by  a  single  Con¬ 
vention  in  the  history  of  a  nation.  [Applause.]  In  the  brief  time  allotted  me  I  can  do 
no  more  than  summarize  the  objections  to  the  third  term. 


First — It  violates  a  conservative  tradition  which  I  regard  as  essential  to  the  permanency 
fo  republican  institutions.  [Applause.] 

Second — A  third  term  transmits  with  added  and  offensive  danger  that  which  in  our  in¬ 
stitutions  is  more  perilous.  I  allude  to  the  spoils  of  office.  [Applause.] 

Th  ird — The  third  term  is  a  step  in  the  direction  of  constitutional  monarchy  that  no  Re¬ 
public  can  afford  to  take.  [Great  applause.] 

Fourth — The  third  term  will  commit  the  Republican  party  to  a  false  issue,  and  upon 
that  issue  we  are  going  to  fail.  [Applause.] 

The  objections,  in  brief,  and  a  thousand  others,  illustrated  by  arguments  patent,  pow¬ 
erful  and  conclusive,  furnish  a  sufficient  reason  for  the  thinking  observer  to  warn  the  Re¬ 
publicans  against  the  impending  danger.  [Applause.]  We  do  not  meet  to  advance  the 
interests  of  any  particular  candidate.  [Great  applause.]  We  are  not  here  to  express  our 
private  views  or  redress  private  grievances,  if  any  there  be.  [Applause.]  We  have  no 
axes  to  grind.  [Applause.]  We  do  not  intend  to  turn  the  stone  for  anybody.  This  con¬ 
vention,  in  my  judgment,  indorses  the  best  sentiment  of  the  Republican  party  and  of  all 
parties.  [Applause.]  We  voice  the  sentiment  of  the  people,  who,  to  have  the  opportu¬ 
nity  to  express  themselves  uncontrolled  by  the  machine,  would,  with  a  single  voice,  as 
a  single  man,  declare  that  no  man  ought  to  be  elected  President  for  a  third  time.  [Ap¬ 
plause.]  I  have  no  time  to  further 'digress  upon  this  cpiestion. 

We  protest  against  the  third-term  policy  for  another  reason.  The  man  who  is  the 
embodiment  of  it — who  is  at  this  hour  campaigning  for  votes — of  all*  men  in  the  United 
States  is  the  least  fitted  by  nature  or  education  to  hold  it.  [Applause.]  Two  years  of  a 
second  term  demonstrated,  to  my  mind  at  least,  conclusively  the  utter  inability  of  that 
man  to  surround  himself  by  men  who  could  administer  the  affairs  of  this  Government 
without  stealing.  [Great  applause.]  There  was  a  time  in  our  history  when  every  Repub¬ 
lican  heart  pulsated  with  pride  at  our  victories  and  our  achievements ;  there  was  an  hour 
in  our  history  when  our  battle-flags  were  upon  the  ramparts  of  the  enemy,  when  our 
guidons  were  advanced  clear  into  his  camp,  and  when  our  hearts  pulsated  with  pride  and 
glory  to  uphold  the  flag  of  our  country  and  the  oriflam  trembled  in  the  breeze  of  Repub¬ 
lican  victory.  Two  years,  alas !  and  what  a  change!  The  sun  that  set  on  the  last  day  of 
that  term  shed  its  golden  rays  upon  a  wrecked,  ruined,  dishonored  Republican  party, 
leaving  us  the  single  legacy  which  is  expressed,  perhaps,  by  this:  “There  is  ne’er  an 
honest  man  in  all  Denmark  but  he  is  an  arrant  knave.”  [Applause.]  It  left  us,  as  a 
legacy,  the  debatable  question  whether  a  man  could  be  a  Republican  without  being  a  thief. 
[Applause.]  This  was  the  condition  of  the  once  bright  and  glorious  Republican  party. 
So  far  as  I  am  concerned — and  I  only  express  my  individual  views — when  Sumner  was  cut 
down  my  faith  wavered;  and  when,  for  doing  his  duty,  John  B.  Henderson  was  struck 
down,  I  ceased  to  be  a  hero-worshiper.  [Great  applause.]  The  details  of  this  great  con¬ 
spiracy,  which  is  seeking  to  commit  us  to  a  third  term,  are  known  to  you  all.  Its  impu¬ 
dence,  its  audacity,  are  exceeded  only  by  the  infamy  of  an  attempt  to  thwart  the  will  of 
the  people,  it  seems  to  me.  Now;  I  am  as  proud  to-day  as  if  the  results  of  this  conspiracy 
were  about  to  return  to  plague  the  inventors.  Tricks  and  stratagems  come  home  to 
roo<st.  The  Conkling  and  Cameron  chicken  is  about  retiring  to  its  coop.  [Laughter  and 
applause.]  One  thing  is  demonstrated  to  be  true,  that  the  voice  that  is  born  of  the  ex- 
Gaugers  and  Storekeepers  is  not  the  voice  of  the  people.  [Applause.]  This  convention, 
by  a  bold  and  determined  part,  will  go  far  toward  strengthening  wavering  delegates,  in 
developing  the  opposition  to  the  third-term  movement ;  and,  whatever  may  be  the  outcome 
of  our  deliberations,  the  student  of  liistor}^  finds  no  movement  that  parallels  the  courage 
or  the  manly  undertaking  of  your  declaration  here  to-day.  ] Applause.]  Speaking  for 
myself,  I  am  a  Stalwart  Republican,  having  no  faith  in  political  transcendentalism  or 
Brook  Farm  experiments.  I  believe  that  under  a  Republican  administration  the  business 
of  the  Government  should  be  administered  by  Republicans.  I  am  here  with  no  ax  to 
grind.  I  am  here  seeking  no  preferment,  but  solely  and  only  because  I  believe  that  the 
day  the  Republican  party  commits  itself  to  the  third  term,  that  day  it  signs  its  own  death- 
warrant.  [Tremendous  applause.]  I  trust  that  our  action  here  may  be  the  means  of 
placing  before  the  country  some  distinguished  statesman  whose  character  and  Republi¬ 
canism  are  above  suspicion  or  reproach  [applause],  and  that  it  will  be  the  means  of  see¬ 
ing"  in  November  a  united  and  harmonious  Republican  party  marching  to  victory.  [Ap¬ 
plause.] 

“  Thrice  is  he  armed  who  hath  his  quarrel  just.” 


3 


Somebody  has  said,  humorously,  that  “four-times  armed  is  the  man  that  gets  in  the 
first  blow.”  We  are  “  thrice-armed”  here  because  we  are  bold,  and  we  are  “four-times 
.armed,”  because  I  do  hope  and  pray  that  the  results  of  our  deliberations  may  be  to  give 
this  third-term  idea  such  a  blow  that  there  will  be  no  track,  trace  or  remains  of  it  here¬ 
after.  [Applause.]  I  trust  and  hope,  representing  as  we  do  so  many  millions  of  voters 
in  this  land,  that  our  action  nuty  be  so  far  harmonious  that  when  we  are  done  it  can  be 
said  of  us  that  we  have  won  golden  opinions  from  all  sorts  of  people.  [Great  applause.] 

On  motion  of  Mr.  G.  L.  Wright,  of  Missouri,  Col.  Eugene  A.  Guilbert,  of  Iowa,  wa. 
elected  temporary  Secretary. 

Hon.  G.  C.  Wharton,  of  Kentucky,  moved  that  a  Committee  on  Permanent  Organiza¬ 
tion  be  appointed.  Carried. 

The  chair  appointed  the  following  named  gentlemen  to  act : 

G.  C.  Wharton,  Kentucky ;  G.  A.  Finkelnburg,  Missouri;  G.  W.  Allerton,  New  York; 
W.  B.  Clark,  Massachusetts;  Carl  Roehl,  Illinois;  S.  A.  Archer,  Indiana;  E.  W.  Fox  and 
M.  Hunt,  Missouri:  W.  H.  Jones,  Ohio;  Rev.  D.  G.  Bryant,  South  Carolina,  and  M.  E. 
Bryant,  Alabama. 

F.  W.  Holls,  of  New  York,  moved  that  Major  Bluford  Wilson  be  called  upon  to  address 
the  convention  during  the  time  the  Committee  on  Organization  were  absent.  Carried. 

Major  Wilson’s  Address. 

Gentlemen :  It  is  not  part  of  my  purpose  at  this  stage  of  the  proceedings  to  rise 
for  the  purpose  of  making  a  formal  speech.  The  Convention  was  not  called  so  much  for 
the  purpose  of  listening  to  set  speeches  as  it  was  for  the  purpose  of  shaping  resolutions 
carefully  and  deliberately  throughout,  and  voicing  forth  not  only  the  sentiment  of  those  pre¬ 
sent,  but  of  the  vast  majority  of  the  voters  of  the  United  States  in  opposition  to  the  heresy 
of  a  third  term.  No  man  is  good  enough  to  be  a  third-term  President  of  this  republic  in  face 
of  the  unselfish  and  patriotic  example  of  the  father  and  founder  of  it.  [Prolonged  applause.] 
His  most  illustrious  and  immediate  successors  left  the  sanction  of  their  immortal  names  to 
his  example  in  declining  to  being  third-term  Presidents,  and  I  believe  that  the  people, 
“through  100  years  of  loyal  and  painful  observation,”  have  perpetuated  the  example  into  a 
custom  that  has  grown  to  the  sanctity  of  a  part  of  the  fundamental  law  of  the  land.  We 
are  present  to-day,  as  citizens  of  the  Republic,  to  lift  our  voices  in  solemn  protest 
against  the  violation  of  a  precedent  and  a  custom  that  has  become  a  part  of  the  common 
law  of  the  land.  We  are  present,  above  all,  as  representatives  to  protest  against  this 
heresy,  this  blind  violation  of  the  traditions  of  the  party  and  the  country.  [Applause.] 
New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Minnesota,  Wisconsin  and  other  States  have  lifted  up 
their  voices  in  solemn  protest  against  this  departure  with  which  the  party  is  threatened 
to-day  by  a  sensational  cabal  and  conspiracy.  [Great  applause.]  We  are  present  to-day 
to  warn  these  managers  in  earnest  and  deliberate  language  that  they  should  not  be  per¬ 
mitted  to  submit  the  party  to  what  the  chairman  has  called  “the  signing  of  its  death- 
warrant.”  [Applause.]  Having  had  some  experience  in  connection  with  past  Republican 
administrations,  I  am  unalterably  opposed,  above  all,  to  the  nomination  of  U.  S.  Grant. 
[Applause.]  I  cheerfully  recognize  his  claims  upon  the  country  for  his  patriotic  ser¬ 
vices  as  a  leader  in  crushing  out  the  rebellion,  yet,  in  the  presence  of  an  issue  like  this, 
personal  consideration  should  not  influence  the  judgment  of  thinking  people  to  lead  them 
into  by  and  forbidden  paths,  and  commit  them  to  a  departure  which  threatens  the  exist¬ 
ence  of  the  party,  and  which  in  future  bears  a  menace  of  danger  to  the  Repuolic  itself. 
So  far  as  the  delegates  are  personally  concerned  we  may  be  insignificant;  we  are 
not  chosen  by  the  ringleaders  of  the  party  to  voice  the  sentiment  of  ring  organization. 
The  sentiment  we  reflect  is  of  the  vast  majority  of  the  voters  of  the  United  States 
in  opposition  to  a  third  term.  Looking  at  the  party  to-day,  where  is  the  strength  of  the 
third-term  movement?  Illinois,  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  Massachusetts,  and  all  of  glorious  New 
England  are  either  silent  upon  the  subject  or  engaged  in  a  deadly  contest  for  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  throttling  the  heresy  in  its  inception.  The  sentiment  is  strong  in  South  Caro¬ 
lina,  a  State  which  illustrated  during  the  administration  of  Senator  Patterson  “some  of 
the  beauties  of  what  we  must  expect  under  a  third  term.”  According  to  Grant  himself, 
the  State  stands  to-day  erect,  reconstructed,  while  under  Patterson’s  administration,  ac¬ 
cording  to  Patterson’s  own  words,  it  was  given  over  to  thieves  and  scoundrels,  who 
preyed  upon  the  very  vitals  of  the  people.  Patterson  himself,  with  a  cunning  leer  upon 
his  countenance,  declared  in  Washington  during  the  last  days  of  Grant’s  administration, 
when  it  began  to  be  apparent  that  there  was  to  be  a  change  in  the  policy  of  the  party,  that 
there  “were  five  years  of  good  stealing  left  in  South  Carolina  under  a  Republican  admin- 


4 


istration.”  [Applause.]  Alabama,  under  the  control  and  influence  of  George  H.  Spencer, 
was  plundered  until  the  people  rose  in  revolution. 

According  to  the  admission  of  Grant  himself,  the  condition  of  the  people  of  Alabama, 
South  Carolina,  Mississippi,  and  every  Southern  State  is  infinitely  better  under  the 
policy  inaugurated  by  Hayes  than  under  his  own.  [Applause.]  These  are  the  States 
to-day  in  which  there  is  not  the  slightest  hope  of  securing  an  electoral  vote  in  favor  of  a 
Republican  President,  and  yet  they  are  the  very  States  which  are  seeking  to  force  upon 
the  party  a  nomination  which,  while  it  might  promise  to  lead  the  Spencers,  the  Patter¬ 
sons,  the  Wests,  and  the  Caseys  back  to  the  flesh-pots  of  Egypt,  yet  bears  with  it  over¬ 
whelming  menace  of  defeat  and  disaster.  Col.  Wilson  handled  the  “  strong-government” 
plea  severely.  “True,”  said  he,  “  Grant’s  government  was  a  ‘strong  one.’  ”  The  price 
of  disinfectants  in  St.  Louis,  I  have  no  doubt,  increased  over  100  per  cent,  during  the 
time  he  was  developing  some  of  the  “strength”  of  his  Administration.  [Great  laughter.] 
“A  strong  government”  as  illustrated  by  the  Department  of  Justice  under  George  H. 
Williams,  who  stood  by  and  saw,  unmoved,  an  infamous  conspiracy  against  the  liberty  of 
a  distinguished  citizen  of  the  District  of  Columbia  concocted  simply  for  the  reason  that 
Columbus  Alexander  had  the  courage  and  the  manhood  to  protest  against  outrage  and 
wrong  and  thieving  in  the  affairs  of  the  Administration  of  the  District.  [Applause.]  “A 
strong  Government”  as  illustrated  further  by  the  fact  that  under  the  administration  of 
the  same  Williams  the  United  States  Marshals  in  nearly  every  Southern  State  squandered 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  in  the  business  of  setting  up  primaries  and  controlling 
State  Conventions  in  the  interest  of  the  Republican  party.  [Applause.]  A  “strong 
Government”  as  illustrated  by  the  a  dministration  of  the  affairs  of  the  Interior  Department 
under  the  “great  and  good”  Delano  [laughter],  who  to  his  son  John  was  in  the  habit  of 
repeating,  doubtless,  that  old  couplet:  “Lord,  bless  me  and  my  wife,  my  son  John  and 
his  wife,  us  four,  and  no  more.”  “A  strong  government”  as  illustrated  by  the  administra¬ 
tion  of  the  War  Department  under  a  name  which  the  speaker  was  ashamed  to  mention  in  a 
Republican  Convention  such  as  this — under  an  administration  when  the  Germans  of  this 
country,  under  their  great  and  eloquent  exponent,  CarLSchurz,  were  obliged  to  move  in  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States  for  an  investigation  of  a  corrupt  sale  of  arms  to  Frenchmen  in 
violation  of  National  law.  [Tremendous  applause.]  In  reference  to  this  matter,  Col.  Wil¬ 
son,  without  desiring  to  be  personal,  said  he  had  seen  a  letter  from  one  Cabinet  officer  to 
the  wTife  of  another  charging  that  “if  that  Senatorial  investigation  wTent  any  farther  it  wTould 
involve  the  wife  of  a  Cabinet  Minister  connected  with  that  speculation.”  (Applause.)  “A 
strong  Government  ”  as  further  illustrated  in  the  administration  of  that  same  department 
when  every  American  blushed  for  very  shame  at  the  name  of  Belknap,  from  whom  Grant  de¬ 
clared  that  he  “parted,  regretting.”  He  had  not  one  word  of  regret,  however,  in  parting  from 
such  distinguished  men  as  Jacob  T.  Cox,  of  Ohio,  or  Ben  Bristow,  of  Kentucky.  (Ap¬ 
plause.)  He  had  no  regrets  when  the  courageous  and  intrepid  Ebenezer  R.  Hoar  went 
out  of  the  Department  of  Justice  because  he  was  not  permitted  to  administer  his  Depart¬ 
ment  in  accordance  with  what  he  believed  to  be  the  simple  rules  of  justice  and  right. 
(Applause.) 

He  had  no  regrets  when  such  an  intrepid  reformer  and  gallant  executive  as  Marshall 
Jewell  was  asked  to  step  down  and  out  of  the  office  of  Postmaster-General  simply  because 
he  had  the  manhood  and  the  courage  of  his  convictions  to  stand  by  Bristow  and  others 
who  were  endeavoring  to  do  their  duty  by  the  country,  under  the  laws  of  the 
country,  which  they  regarded  as  paramount  to  their  obligation  to  Gen.  Grant  or  anybody 
else.  (Great  applause.)  “A  strong  government  ”  as  illustrated  by  the  administration 
of  the  Navy  Department  in  such  pieces  of  villiany  as  the  Secor  contracts,  for  which  Robe¬ 
son  escaped  impeachment  simply  because  he  had  the  nerve,  courage  and  audacity  to  stand 
up  and  brazen  out  his  infamy,  and  in  regard  to  which  Gen.  Grant  never  raised  his  voice 
in  protestor  objection.  (Applause.)  If  this  is  the  character  of  the  “strong”  govern¬ 
ment  now  desired,  if  these  are  the  data  from  which  to  judge  of  the  future — and  since  the 
days  of  Patrick  Henry  there  is  no  other  way  to  judge  but  by  the  past — then  let  the 
people  meet  and  say,  as  with  one  voice,  as  he  believed  they  would,  “We  will  not  have 
or  support  a  man  who  thus  illustrates  strong  government  in  violation  not  only  of  what 
seem  to  be  the  traditions  of  the  party,  but  the  precedent  and  customs  of  the  country 
concentrated  by  a  hundred  years  of  acquiescence  by  the  men  of  all  parties.”  (Prolonged 
applause.) 


t> 


“  Vote  for  Tilden,”  shouted  an  outsider. 

“No,”  replied  Major  Wilson,  “not  for  Tilden,  either.  (Applause.)  We  are,  first  and 
above  all,  Republicans.  (Applause.) 

We  stand  here  to-day  by  the  faith  handed  down  by  the  fathers,  emphasized  and  repeated 
by  the  Republican  party  in  all  the  great  Republican  States  of  the  nation.  Let  others  go, 
we  remain.  (Applause.)  We  will  stand  fast  and  true.  The  example  of  that  illustrious 
and  immortal  name  (Washington)  has  given  us  a  patrimony  of  which  we  should  all  be 
proud.  Be  not  led  off  into  supporting  any  other  men  whose  record  is  open  to  such  just 
criticism  as  that  of  Samuel  J.  Tilden.  (Applause.)  If  we  can  do  no  better,  we  can  at 
least  do  what  some  of  our  colored  friends  are  fond  of  doing  down  South — “take  to  de 
woods”  (laughter  and  applause),  or,  as  the  alternative  to  that,  we  can,  in  the  bright  cer¬ 
tainty  that  we  are  right  and  that  our  friends  are  wrong,  present  to  the  country,  at  some 
convention  which  shall  hereafter  be  called,  some  man  who  is  at  once  a  representative  of 
the  anti-third-term  theory  and  of  an  honest,  faithful  administration  of  public  affairs  in  the 
interests  of  the  people.  (Applause.)  Some  such  name  I  am  proud  I  can  mention;  some 
such  name  as  that  of  your  own  genial  John  B.  Henderson  (applause),  always  in  the  fore¬ 
front  of  the  battle  for  right,  brave,  intrepid,  regardless  either  of  consequences  personal 
to  himself  or  of  the  frowns  of  executive  disfavors.  (Loud  applause.)  He  had  the  cour¬ 
age  and  the  manhood,  with  the  power  of  his  convictions  of  duty,  to  back  up  a  Grand  Jury 
and  prosecute  a  man  who  was  the  favorite  then  in  the  White  House,  and  he  would,  I  have 
no  doubt,  with  equal  courage  and  equal  wisdom,  have  prosecuted  even  the  Executive 
himself  had  he  been  unworthy.  (Tremendous  applause.)  There  are  other  noble  names 
such  as  Cox,  of  Ohio,  Hawley,  of  Connecticut,  George  William  Curtis,  of  New  York,  under 
whose  leadership  the  party  would  be  proud  to  rally  and  fight  for  liberty  and  the  right  of 
being  citizens  of  “  the  grandest  and  freest  Republic  under  the  sun.”  This  movement  and 
those  engaged  in  it  will  doubtless  be  sneered  at  by  some  organs.  I  could  mention 
one  in  St.  Louis,  and  another  in  Chicago,  the  latter  of  which,  during  the  whole  time  when 
the  Government  was  trying  to  bring  to  justiue  men  who  had  been  fattening  upon  the 
spoils  of  the  people,  had  not  a  word  of  encouragement  or  cheer  for  those  who  with  their 
best  abilities  were  prosecuting  such  thieves.  (Applause.)  But  the  anti-third-term  men, 
strong  in  their  convictions  that  they  are  right,  and  backed  by  such  eloquent  and  burn¬ 
ing  words  as  those  of  Mr.  Bellows,  Woolsey,  Scliurz,  Cox,  and  others,  can  afford  to  go 
forward  to  whatever  fate  fortune  might  have  in  store  for  them,  but  always  and  under  all 
circumstances  determined  to  stand  by  and  uphold  the  Republican  doctrines  given  to  them 
by  the  fathers,  and  the  laws  and  time-honored  customs  of  the  country.  (Prolonged  ap¬ 
plause.) 

At  the  conclusion  of  Col.  Wilson’s  telling  and  eloquent  address,  Chairman  Wharton  of 
the  Committee  on  Organization  made  the  following  report : 

For  President,  Hon.  John  B.  Henderson,  of  Missouri. 

Vice  Presidents,  F.  W.  Holls,  of  New  York,  Franklin  McTeigh,  of  Illinois,  Otto  Kirchner, 
of  Michigan,  John  W.  Carter,  of  Massachusetts,  E.  R.  Wood,  of  Pennsslvania,  H.  M. 
Turner  of  Georgia,  G.  W.  Bryant,  of  South  Carolina,  M.  E.  Bryant,  of  Alabama,  L.  M. 
Eembitz,  of  Kentucky,  Robert  A.  Hill,  of  Indiana,  J.  H.  Wells  of  Florida,  Judge  R.  E.  Rom- 
bauer,  of  Missouri  and  Dr.  H.  J.  Lampe,  of  Missouri,  Rufus  Anderson,  of  Kansas,  E.  A. 
Fulton,  of  Arkansas,  Carl  Grandpre,  of  Nebraska,  T.  D.  Smalls,  of  Texas,  Major  Geo. 
B.Halsted,  of  Minnesota,  A.  Hartzer,  of  Wisconsin  and  W.  W.  Wheeler,  of  California. 

Secretaries:  Col.  Eugene  A.  Guilbert,  of  Iowa,  Maj.  E.  S.  Foster,  of  Missouri,  Col.  F. 
T.  Ledergerber  and  J.  Wilson,  of  Missouri. 

The  report  of  the  committee  was  received  and  adopted. 

E.  B.  Cahoon,  of  Missouri,  moved  that  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed  to  escort 
the  Chairman  to  the  rostrum.  Carried. 

The  temporary  chairman  appointed  the  following  gentlemen  as  the  committee : 

Tatcher  Muencli,  of  Missouri;  L.  M.  Dembitz,  of  Kentucky  and  W.  W.  Williams,  of 
Minnesota. 

General  Henderson’s  Address. 

Gentlemen — My  first  duty  is  to  thank  you,  as  I  do  sincerely,  for  the  expression  of  your 
confidence  and  regard.  In  return  permit  me  to  promise  you  at  least  an  impartial  dis¬ 
charge  of  the  duties  imposed. 

And  now  to  the  business  for  which  we  have  assembled. 

We  meet  to  consider  and  discuss  political  duties  at  an  important  period  of  our  history. 
Theoretically,  at  the  least,  we  are  freemen — citizens  of  a  republic  in  which  each  **  is  the 


0 


equal  of  his  fellow.”  *  *  Every  man  is  a  part  of  the  republic.  Whatever  of  talent,, 

whatever  of  wisdom  and  experience  any  one  of  us  can  give  to  the  counsels  of  hiscountry,  it 
is  not  only  his  right  but  his  duty  to  give.  On  this  principle  rests  the  theory  of  republican 
government.  The  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press  is  guaranteed  no  less  for  the  benefit 
of  the  government  than  for  the  liberty  and  security  of  the  citizen. 

As  republican  government  is  but  the  rational  expression  of  the  people’s  will,  freedom  of 
expression,  in  all  its  forms,  must  be  preserved,  in  order  that  this  will  may  be  ascertained. 
And  to  secure  government  by  the  people  in  its  purity  it  is  not  enough  that  the  freedom  of 
speech  be  merely  guaranteed;  it  is  equally  important  that  the  right  be  exercised.  If  we 
have  convictions  touching  our  political  duties  those  convictions  should  be  contributed  to- 
the  general  expression  of  the  popular  will.  And  when  we  shall  have  expressed  them  the 
whole  duty  of  patriotism  is  not  yet  discharged.  These  convictions  must  put  on  the  garb 
of  action.  If  we  stop  short  of  this  our  duty  is  but  half  performed. 

He  that  is  intimidated  by  power  proves  himself  no  less  insensible  than  unworthy  of  the 
rights  of  freemen. 

He  that  is  corrupted  by  the  temptations  and  promises  of  office  sells  the  public  weal  for 
personal  gain,  and  in  a  court  of  conscience  accepts  the  taint  of  bribery. 

He  that  surrenders  to  party  what  belongs  to  his  country  has  already  bartered  his  birth¬ 
right  of  citizenship  and  ceases  to  be  a  factor  in  the  preservation  of  liberty. 

With  a  proper  sense,  I  hope  and  believe,  of  our  duties  and  responsibilities  as  citizens,  we 
meet  to  consider  questions  connected  with  the  coming  presidential  election. 

Some  of  the  leaders  of  the  Republican  party  tell  us  once  more  that  all  the  hopes  of 
American  liberty  now  depend  on  their  success.  If  this  be  true  would  it  not  be  wise  in 
them  to  adopt  such  policies  and  to  nominate  such  candidates  as  may  be  acceptable  to  the 
largest  number  of  its  members  ? 

We  who  are  here,  for  many  years  have  been  faithful  adherents  of  the  party.  We  deserve 
some  consideration  in  its  counsels.  What  we  ask  is  not  unreasonable. 

The  candidate  presented  by  these  leaders  has  been  president  for  eight  years.  He  has 
already  filled  the  two  terms  assigned  by  the  constitutional  fathers.  Aside  from  the  merits 
or  demerits  of  his  administrations,  we  insist  that  this  precedent  of  our  institutions  should 
be  observed.  It  is  at  least  safe  to  follow  it.  It  may  be  dangerous  to  abandon  it.  It  is 
no  answer  to  say,  “This  is  not  the  law;  that  it  is  a  mere  custom,  whose  breach  is  better 
than  its  observance.”  These  precedents  are  often  wiser  than  the  written  law.  The  com¬ 
mon  law  itself  is  an  unwritten  code,  a  collection  of  precedents  and  usages,  which  the  ex¬ 
perience  of  our  Anglo-Saxon  fathers  found  applicable  to  good  government  and  to  the 
security  of  person  and  property.  In  the  language  of  Judge  Kent,  these  usages  and  cus¬ 
toms  “  do  not  rest  for  their  authority  upon  any  express  and  positive  declaration  of  the 
will  of  the  legislature.”  Again  he  says:  “The  rules  and  maxims  which  constitute  the 
immense  code  of  the  common  law  grew  into  use  by  gradual  adoption,  and  received  from 
time  to  time  the  sanction  of  the  courts  of  justice,  without  any  legislative  act  or  interfer¬ 
ence.  It  was  the  application  of  the  dictates  of  natural  justice  and  of  cultivated  reason  to 
particular  cases.” 

Sir  Matthew  Hale  said  that  it  was  “the  product  of  the  wisdom,  counsel,  experience  and 
observation  of  many  ages  of  wise  and  observing  men.”  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  civil 
law,  which  made  Rome  the  mistress  of  the  world,  and  yet  administers  justice  in  half  of 
Europe  and  a  part  of  the  United  States.  It  is  a  code  of  precedents,  deduced  from  univer¬ 
sal  custom,  sanctioned  by  the  wisdom  of  the  people,  and  accepted  and  applied  in  the  con¬ 
duct  of  their  affairs*  The  same  is  true  of  the  public  law.  It  is  a  bundle  of  prece¬ 
dents,  a  code  of  customs,  and  yet  it  is  honored  and  obeyed  by  the  nations  of  the  civilized 
world.  To  destroy  it  is  to  remove  gravitation  from  the  universe.  It  is  this  code  which 
protects  commerce  on  the  high  seas,  preserves  contracts  against  revolutionary  changes  of 
government,  prescribes  the  duties  of  neutrals  in  time  of  war,  protects  the  persons  o»f 
embassadors  and  consuls,,  fixes  the  law  of  blockade,  gives  rules  to  civilized  warfare,  limits 
the  right  of  search  and  preserves  the  freedom  of  the  seas. 

This  great  code,  in  the  language  of  an  American  commentator,  consists  largely  of  a 
“  collection  of  usages,  customs  and  opinions,  the  growth  .of  civilization  and  commerce.” 

When  our  English  ancestors  secured  the  great  charter,  that  “no  freeman  should  be 
deprived  of  life,  liberty  or  property  except  by  the  judgment  of  his  peers  or  the  law  of  the 
land,”  the  trial  by  jury  rested  upon  custom,  and  the  “law  of  the  land”  had  no  other 
definition  than  universal  consent  and  immemorial  usage. 


( 


When  our  American  forefathers  protested  against  taxation  without  representation,  they 
pointed  to  no  written  law,  but  to  the  history  of  English  civilization;  to  immemorial  usage 
and  the  customs  and  canons  of  the  common  law. 

But  aside  from  the  precedent  to  which  we  insist  upon  adhering,  we  object  to  the  nomi¬ 
nation  of  Gen.  Grant  because  of  the  character  of  his  former  administrations.  We  will  not 
willingly  revive  the  story  of  their  shortcomings.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  heretofore  they 
brought  dishonor,  shame  and  defeat  to  the  Republican  party;  and  no  reasonable  guarantees 
are  offered  that  the  future  will  be  an  improvement  of  the  past.  A  nomination  does  not 
remove  the  odor  of  these  scandals.  It  only  shifts  the  responsibility  upon  the  party  itself . 

“The  river  Rhine,  it  is  well  kncnvn, 

Doth  wash  your  city  of  Cologne ; 

Rut  tell  me,  nymphs,  what  power  divine 
Shall  henceforth  wash  {he  river  Rhine !” 

These  gentlemen  tell  us  that  the  condition  of  the  country  is  such  that  a  strong  govern 
ment  is  needed.  The  meaning  of  this  term  has  never  been  sufficiently  explained.  If  they 
seek  a  government  made  strong  by  the  love  and  confidence  of  the  people,  or  one  made 
strong  by  the  proper  administration  of  the  law,  we  shall  be  the  last  to  present  any  objec¬ 
tion.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  they  seek  the  application  of  repressive  measures  to  the  South 
outside  of  the  constitution  and  against  the  law,  we  enter  now  our  most  solemn  protest. 
If  the  object  be  to  dictate  to  the  Southern  people  what  representatives  they  shall  send  to 
congress,  whether  white  or  black,  Republican  or  Democratic,  we  here  repudiate  the 
unwarrantable  claim.  We  waged  against  them  a  war  of  four  years’ duration  to  compel 
them  to  send  members  of  congress  to  Washington  instead  of  to  Richmond.  If  these 
leaders  desire  us  to  wage  auother  four  years’  war  to  drive  those  members  back  to  Rich¬ 
mond,  we  shall  withhold  our  consent.  If  the  purpose  of  our  leaders  be,  in  violation  of 
constitutional  guarantees,  to  send  down  armies  of  protection  to  the  negro,  while  he  votes 
the  Republican  ticket,  we  answer  that  standing  armies  are  but  sorry  teachers  of  public 
opinion,  and  generally  the  worst  guarantors  of  civil  liberty — either  for  white  or  black. 
That  this  clamor  for  strong  government  is  as  baseless  as  all  other  pretensions  put  forth  to 
overthrow  the  conservative  safeguards  of  our  institutions.  It  is  sufficient  to  quote  the 
words  of  General  Grant  himself.  At  Bloomington,  Ill.,  on  the  17th  of  April  last,  after 
informing  the  people  that  he  had  traveled  over  all  the  lately  rebellious  states,  he  said : 
“The  same  decorations  were  seen  in  every  state  that  are  seen  here  to-night;  the  Union 
flag  floated  over  us  everywhere,  and  the  eyes  of  the  people  are  as  familiar  with  its  colors 
as  yours,  and  look  upon  it  as  guaranteeing  to  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  a  free  people 
without  regard  to  race,  color,  or  previous  condition  of  servitude.”  At  Little  Rock,  two 
days  before,  he  said  he  discovered  that  the  sectional  “feelings  of  the  past  are  gone.” 

These  declarations  furnish  sufficient  answer  to  all  claims  of  government  outside  of  the 
law.  There  is  no  chattel  slavery  in  the  South,  and  there  never  can  be  again,  Interest, 
conscience,  custom,  all  forbid  it.  The  slave  block  is  abolished  forever.  There  is,  how¬ 
ever,  a  species  of  slavery  in  the  South  as  well  as  in  the  North  that  cries  for  the  emancipa¬ 
tion  of  its  miserable  victims.  In  truthful  language  we  are  told  that  “he  is  not  free  whose 
mind  is  enslaved;”  and  how  many  of  our  people  consent  to  subject  the  right  of  judgment 
and  the  dictates  of  conscience  to  the  shackles  of  party  rule. 

It  has  been  said  that  he  alone  is  free  “  whom  the  truth  makes  free.” 

Then  he  who  smothers  his  convictions  and  advocates  measures  which  his  soul  abhors, 
or  supports  for  public  office  unworthy  candidates,  denies  the  truth  and  ceases  to  be  free. 

De  Tocqueville  truly  says  that  the  desire  for  office  in  America  destroys  the  spirit  of  in¬ 
dependence,  stifles  the  manlier  virtues  and  jeopardizes  the  existence  of  the  state. 

We  all  know  that  the  theory  and  principles  of  our  government  are  subverted  by  the 
present  practices  of  political  parties. 

They  have  usurped  the  functions  of  all  its  departments.  Conventions  make  presidents; 
conventions  make  legislatures  and  judges  of  courts;  conventions  are  made  by  primary 
meetings,  and  primary  meetings  are  too  often  controlled  by  bullies,  blackguards  and 
demagogues.  Of  late  years,  by  extending  the  principle  of  state  rights  to  the  work  of 
professional  politicians,  they  have  adopted  what  they  denominate  the  unit  rule,  by  which 
the  vote  of  a  single  trickster  may  control  an  entire  state.  In  order  to  make  this  work 
effective  they  resort  to  all  the  arts  of  corruption.  They  employ  professional  voters  for 
the  primaries,  who  are  equally  active  and  zealous  for  either  party.  They  employ  profes¬ 
sional  delegates  who  sell  their  services  for  lucre,  or  the  empty  promise  of  office. 


8 


When  the  nominations  are  made  they  demand  the  support  of  honest  men ;  they  appeal 
to  the  fears  of  some ;  to  the  prejudices  of  others ;  to  the  avarice  of  some  and  the  aspira¬ 
tions  of  others,  while  they  apply  the  party  lash  to  all. 

Instead  of  electing  our  president  by  colleges  of  independent  electors,  these  fraudulent 
conventions,  manipulated  and  controlled  by  the  worst  elements  of  society,  not  only  dictate 
the  person  of  the  executive,  but  the  character  and  policy  of  his  administration.  These 
are  the  evils  from  which  we  need  emancipation.  They  belong  no  less  to  one  party  than  to 
the  other. 

Strong  government  is  not  the  remedy  for  them.  For  them  we  need  no  standing  armies, 
-no  military  hero,  no  methods  ot  military  rule. 

The  very  reverse  of  all  these  is  required.  We  want  personal  independence,  respect  for 
the  constitution  and  the  laws,  a  total  overthrow  of  party  rule,  an  emancipation  of  the  pub¬ 
lic  mind  from  the  thraldom  of  party  machinery. 

It  is  by  means  of  these  arts,  this  perversion  of  all  methods  of  good  government,  that  the 
.nomination  of  Gen.  Grant  is  now  threatened.  Consecrated  customs  are  to  be  put  aside, 
the  example  of  good  men  is  to  be  insolently  spurned,  and  a  nomination  forced  upon  an 
>unwilling  party. 

With  the  exception  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  the  states  proposing  to  nominate  him 
cannot  give  him  an  electoral  vote.  Pennsylvania  was  secured  upon  a  three-weeks’  notice ; 
and  so  reckless  and  defiant  is  the  misrepresentation  of  the  popular  will  that  the  public 
judgment  already  proclaims  revolt.  Long  before  the  Chicago  convention  assembles,  the 
glittering  falsehood  will  have  been  exposed,  and  truth  will  assert  its  supremacy. 

Ohio,  Indiana,  Michigan  and  Wisconsin,  it  is  now  certain,  cannot  be  relied  on  for  a 
single  electoral  vote  in  case  of  his  nomination.  If  the  electoral  vote  of  New  York  should 
be  given  by  an  act  of  the  legislature,  the  revolutionary  proceeding  would  cost  double  as 
many  votes  in  other  states.  Illinois  is  now  doubtful  in  its  choice  for  a  nomination,  and 
almost  certain  to  oppose  his  election  if  nominated. 

Under  these  circumstances  we  may  the  more  confidently  appeal  to  the  Chicago  conven¬ 
tion. 

To  make  that  appeal  becomes  a  part  of  the  duty  devolved  upon  this  meeting.  Let  us 
make  it  in  a  spirit  of  sincerity;  let  us  remind  our  friends  of  our  joint  labors  in  the  past; 
of  the  many  good  deeds  of  the  party  in  which  we  have  all  participated  and  of  its  splendid 
renown,  of  which  we  are  all  proud.  Let  us  ask  them  to  reconsider  and  disavow  their 
purposes.  If  they  prove  deaf  to  the  voice  of  justice,  and  reject  the  claims  of  past  associ¬ 
ation,  we  may  be  reluctantly  forced  to  acquiesce  in  the  necessity  which  demands  our 
political  separation.  In  that  event  it  may  become  necessary  to  declare  that  all  political 
•connection  between  them  and  ourselves  is  and  ought  to  be  totally  dissolved,  and  that  as  a 
free  and  independent  party  we  have  full  power  to  call  conventions,  to  nominate  candi¬ 
dates,  and  to  do  all  other  acts  and  things  which  an  independent  party  may  of  right  do. 

It  is  now  customary  to  deride  us  as  weak  and  contemptible  in  numbers.  The  race  is 
not  always  to  the  swift  nor  the  battle  to  the  strong.  More  than  once  in  human  history 
the  weak  have  been  able  to  confound  the  mighty. 

A  few  earnest  men  pursuing  the  right,  soon  become  irresistible.  “Duties  are  theirs, 
events  are  God’s.”  In  the  language  of  Mr.  Carlyle,  “they  perform  the  duty  nearest  to 
them,  and  then  other  duties  become  clearer.” 

The  Liberty  party  of  1844,  headed  by  Mr.  Birney,  received  only  62,300  votes  out  of  more 
than  two  and  a  half  millions  cast.  But  this  was  sufficient  to  turn  the  scale  and  bring 
defeat  upon  Mr.  Clay,  the  most  popular  civic  leader  known  to  American  politics. 

The  Freesoilers  of  New  York,  under  Mr.  Van  Buren,  in  1848,  overwhelmed  the  victori¬ 
ous  Democracy  and  drove  them  from  power.  Earnest  men  are  always  in  the  majority. 
They  see  the  right  and  suffer  no  timid  counsels  or  cowardly  suggestions  to  stand  between 
them  and  duty.  This  little  Liberty  party  of  1844  became  the  party  of  Lincoln  in  1860. 

In  the  last  century  a  few  earnest  patriots  at  Boston  epitomized  human  liberty  into  the 
maxim :  “  No  taxation  without  representation.”  To  them  the  maxim  was  as  sacred  as  the 
religion  of  their  fathers.  They  inscribed  the  principle  on  their  banners,  and  followed 
the  flag  amidst  the  scorn  and  contempt  of  the  flatterers  and  minions  of  power.  These  were 
the  men  who  organized  the  first  tea-party*  known  in  American  history.  Those  who  tumbled 
the  tea  into  Boston  harbor  numbered  only  fifty  men.  At  Concord  and  Lexington  they 
numbered  an  army;  and  there  they  fired  the  shot  whose  echoes  awaked  mankind.  The  first 

*  The  Globe-Democrat  in  indicating  the  Anti-Third  Term  Party  of  Missouri,  gave  it  the  name  of  the 
4‘  Tea  Party.” 


9 


tea-party  gave  us  our  institutions.  Let  us  hope  that  the  second  may  be  able  to  preserve  them. 

We  may  not  be  able  to  elect  a  president  of  oui  own  choosing  in  the  next  canvass, 
but  "we  can  and  do  proclaim  that  the  balance  of  power  is  in  our  hands.  We  can 
determine  which  candidate  chosen  by  others  shall  be  elected,  and  we  have  already  resolved 
to  exercise  that  power. 

The  methods  of  existing  political  parties  must  be  reformed  or  the  parties  themselves 
must  cease  to 'exist. 

The  old  issues  have  become  useless  for  good. 

The  questions  on  which  parties  were  organized  are  now  substantially  settled.  The  war  with 
all  its  passions  and  resentments,  must  be  put  away  with  the  past.  The  constitution,  with 
its  amendments,  is  accepted  as  the  supreme  law,  and  this  gives  us  a  government  sufficiently 
strong.  The  public  faith  must  be  preserved,  and  to  do  this  settles  the  questions  of  com¬ 
mercial  law.  Prudence  and  economy,  supplemented  by  good  crops,  have  exposed  recent 
heresies  on  the  subject  of  finance  and  commended  resumption  to  the  judgment  of  all. 

Errors  of  administration  yet  exist.  The  civil  service  is  clumsy  and  corrupt.  Political 
tricksters  have  become  a  governing  class,  and  office-seeking  has  been  reduced  to  a  profes¬ 
sion.  The  executive  tenure  must  be  reduced  to  a  single  term,  either  by  law  or  by 
practice,  to  the  end  that  the  scandals  of  patronage  may  cease.  The  tyranny  of  party  must 
be  broken,  and  personal  independence  asserted.  If  a  party  nomination  must  continue  to 
be  equivalent  to  an  election,  the  nomination  must  have  such  safeguards  as  will  secure  a 
proper  selection. 

Permit  us  to  indulge  our  reverence  and  respect  for  the  traditions  of  the  past.  You  may 
call  it  a  superstition,  if  you  will.  It  has  grown  with  our  growth,  and  strengthened  with 
our  strength.  To  honor  our  fathers  is  a  commandment  of  the  Christian  religion.  So  far 
this  superstition  has  given  us  liberty,  civilization,  progress, wealth,  happiness,  government^ 
law.  It  has  preserved  to  us  the  union  of  our  fathers.  We  love  it  with  all  its  recol¬ 
lections,  and  we  would  perpetuate  it  as  we  knew  it  in  the  days  of  our  infancy : 

The  union  of  lakes,  the  union  of  lands, 

The  union  of  states  none  can  sever ; 

The  union  of  hearts,  the  union  of  hands, 

And  the  flag  of  our  union  forever. 

The  Chairman  announcing  that  the  convention  was  organized  and  ready  for  business, 

Mr.  F.  W.  Whitridge  read  from  the  platform  the  following,  which  he  had  been  instructed 
to  present : 

Independent  Republican  Headquarters.  \ 
Union  Square,  New  York,  May  8.  / 

The  executive  committee  of  Independent  Republicans  of  New  York  State  offer  to  the 
convention  at  St.  Louis  hearty  sympathy  and  co-operation  in  their  opposition  to  the  renom¬ 
ination  of  Gen.  Grant  for  a  third  term.  We  believe  that  Gen.  Grant  ought  not  to  be  nomi¬ 
nated  at  Chicago,  because  his  nomination  would  array  against  the  Republican  party  the 
overwhelming  opposition  to  the  violation  of  the  unwritten  law  against  a  third  term ;  be¬ 
cause  the  record  of  his  previous  administration  condemns  his  candidacy,  and  because, 
under  such  management  as  is  associated  with  his  name,  would  be  defeated. at  the  polls  as 
it  would  then  deserve  to  be  defeated.  The  party  managers  in  this  State  who  have  hesitated 
at  nothing  to  make  the  State  convention  servile  to  their  will,  have  falsely  endeavored  to 
represent  New  York  as  a  unit  for  Gen.  Grant.  The  Republicans  of  New  York  are  not  a 
unit  for  Gen.  Grant.  We  believe  a  majority  of  them  oppose  his  nomination.  We  believe 
that  in  the  event  of  his  candidacy  a  Republican  third  candidate  should  be  put  in  the  field 
unless  the  Democratic  candidate  should  be  one  so  commanding  the  confidence  of  the 
country  as  to  make  this  course  questionable,  and  we  shall  heartily  co-operate  in  well-con¬ 
sidered  plans  to  this  end,  especially  should  Uiey  include  vigorous  efforts  in  unison  with 
the  rest  of  the  party  for  the  election  of  a  Republican  majority  in  the  House,  that  in  the 
event  of  the  election  of  a  Democratic  executive  he  should  be  supported  in  measures  of 
sound  finance  and  administrative  reform  but  not  in  partisan  measures.  We  believe  that 
no  candidate  should  be  nominated  at  Chicago  who  will  in  any  way  put  the  party  on  the 
defensive,  and  we  look  to  the  result  of  the  convention  at  St.  Louis  by  protesting  against  one 
threatened  blunder  to  promote  the  nomination  of  a  candidate  who  willfully  represent  polit¬ 
ical  morality  and  the  avowed  principles  of  the  party  and  who  ought  to  and  will  win. 
Horace  White,  Felix  Kaufman,  George  W.  Green, 

J.  Schoeniiof,  Dr.  S.  S.  Grey,  F.  W.  Whitridge, 

H.  S.  Vanduzer.  R.  R.  Bonner,  W.  A.  White. 


1 0 


Mr.  E.  R.  Wood,  of  Philadelphia,  also  read  as  follows- 

National  Republican  League,  ) 
Office  of  Executive  Committee, 

No.  913  Walnut  street,  Philadelphia.  ) 

To  the  St.  Louis  Anti-Third  Term  Convention : 

The  National  Republican  League  of  Pennsylvania,  in  sending  a  delegate  to  the  St.  Louis 
Convention,  desires  to  express  its  hearty  concurrence  in  the  objects  of  that  body. 

The  motto  of  the  League,  “  No  third  term— A  party  without  a  master  and  a  candidate 
without  a  stain,”  embodies  the  principles  on  which  it  is  founded,  and  which  it  believes 
will  influence  a  sufficient  number  of  Republicans  to  turn  the  scale  in  the  pending  election. 
But  to  accomplish  this  will  require  organization,  and  the  League  hopes  the  convention 
may  not  adjourn  without  providing  means  by  which  such ‘an  organization  may  be  consti¬ 
tuted,  in  case  the  action  of  the  Chicago  Convention  be  such  as  to  give  the  party  a  candi¬ 
date  who  cannot  be  supported  by  conscientious  and  thoughtful  Republicans. 

Believing  that  the  abuse  of  patronage  is  the  source  of  our  political  demoralization,  the 
League  ventures  to  express  the  hope  that  the  St.  Louis  Convention  will  earnestly  demand 
of  the  Republican  party  that  it  place  civil  service  reform  among  its  leading  principles. 

The  League  hails  the  assembling  of  the  St.  Louis  Convention  as  a  most  encouraging 
evidence  that  the  people  are  at  last  becoming  aroused  by  the  multiplying  evils  of  our  politi¬ 
cal  condition,  and  are  rapidly  becoming  prepared  to  adopt  the  only  remedy — that  of  eman¬ 
cipation  from  the  blind  partisanship  which  has  rendered  party  organization  the  tool  of 
unscrupulous  managers. 

By  order  of  the  executive  committee. 

Wji.  Rotch  Wister,  Chairman. 

Hampton  L.  Carson,  Secretary. 

The  Secretary,  Col.  Guilbert,  read  the  following  communications : 

To  the  National  Anti-Third  Term  Republican  Convention  at  St.  .Louis. 

We  the  undersigned  Republican  voters  of  the  State  of  Iowa,  being  strongly  opposed 
to  a  third  presidential  term  by7  any  one,  however  distinguished,  and  anxiously  desiring 
escape  from  the  now  utterly  needless  alternative  of  support  to  a  candidate  for  such  service 
or  acquiescence  in  the  infliction  of  a  greater  evil,  respectfully  express  to  your  convention 
our  intensely  earnest  sympathy  with  its  avowed  purpose  of  preventing,  if  at  all  possible, 
the  threatened  misfortune  to  the  Republican  party  of  a  third-term  nomination  at  Chicago. 
We  are  thus  in  sympathy  with  you  for  these  among  other  reasons : 

1.  We  are  convinced  that,  as  a  matter  of  principle,  and  as  a  measure  of  safety  for  the 
future,  the  traditional  law  of  the  Republic  of  a  two-term  service  only  in  the  Presidency7  by 
the  same  citizen,  should  not  be  departed  from. 

2.  Daily  accumulating  developments  leave  no  room  to  doubt  that  the  opposition  to  a 
third-term,  on  the  part  of  tried  and  true  Republicans,  is  so  widely  extended  and  so  deep- 
seated,  as  to  render  a  third-term  nomination  extremely  if  not  fatally  hazardous  to  Repub¬ 
lican  success  next  November. 

3.  Our  knowledge  of  the  views  and  feelings  of  a  very  large  number  of  Republicans  in 
this  State,  convince  us  that  even  in  radical  and  heretofore  immovably  Republican  Iowa,  the 
proposed  nomination  of  General  Grant  for  a  third-term,  will  very  greatly  endanger  and  prob¬ 
ably  defeat  tile  election  of  Republican  candidate  for  Congress  in  the  First,  Second  and 
Third  Districts  in  this  State,  if  in  none  other. 

4.  While  according  to  General  Grant,  as  we  gladly  do,  all  possible  honor  in  view  of 
his  past  service  to  the  Nation  in  the  field  and  at  the  Capital,  and  yielding  to  none  in  our 
admiration  for  his  many7  excellencies  of  character,  ability  and  patriotism,  we  cannot  clpse 
our  eyes  to  the  obvious  fact,  that  very  serious  objections  are  urged  against  his  candidature 
for  the  Presidency,  as  a  result  of  the  numerous  and  grave  mistakes  and  failures  in  civil 
administration  alleged  or  committed  during  his  past  terms  of  service  in  the  executive  chair. 
These  allegations  are  of  such  a  character,  and  are  so  very  strongly  urged  among  and  by 
reliable  and  conscientious  Republicans,  as  to  render  it  certain  that  the  nominatio’n  of  Gen . 
Grant  will  entail  upon  the  Republican  party  a  campaign  of  explanation,  apology  and  defense 
at  the  precise  juncture  at  which  the  blunders,  reactionary  efforts,  treasonable  designs  and 
actual  crimes  of  the  Democratic  majority  in  Congress  invite  and  urge  the  Republican  party 
to  a  campaign  of  defiant  avowal,  vigorous,  aggressive  and  incessant  attack. 

5.  We  are  confronted  by  the  fact,  too  palpable  to  be  ignored,  and  too  serious  in  its 
portents  to  be  without  great  influence  in  determining  our  present  utterance  in  behalf  of 


11 


the  Republican  party,  that,  should  General  Grant  be  nominated,  while  there  are  a  large 
number  of  Republicans  who  would  vote  for  him  with  great  reluctance,  and  with  mental  if  not 
expressed  protest,  there  are  many  other  Republicans,  whose  votes  the  party  will  greatly 
need  next  November,  who  will  consider  the  defeat  of  a  third-term  hominee  a  smaller  evil 
than  his  election.  This  fact  exists.  Hence,  we  urge  especial  attention  to  the  danger  it 
threatens  to  Republican  unity  and  success.  It  has  force  in  view  of  the  certainty  that  the 
dissatisfied  Republicans  would  find  support  thereto  in  such  maxims  as  that  of  President 
Hayes,  that  “  he  serves  his  party  best  who  serves  his  country  well.”  We  greatly  fear  that 
the  number  of  Republican  voters  entertaining  the  views  thus  noted,  is  much  larger  than 
has  heretofore  been  supposed.  We  fear,  indeed,  that  it  is  sufficiently  large  to  defeat  Gen. 
Grant  in  some  of  the  Northern  States.  At  the  same  time  we  are  firm  in  the  belief  that  the 
suggestion  that  Gen.  Grant  can  carry  so-me  of  the  Southern  States,  is  altogether  illusory 
and  deceptive ;  for  those  States  are  hopelessly  in  the  grasp,  for  the  coming  campaign,  of  a 
political  organization  which  will  not  permit  an  honest  and  free  vote  by  the  entire  people, 
and  which  would  not  allow  a  fair  and  true  count  of  such  a  vote  could  it  be  cast.  Because 
of  the  fetters  thus  placed  upon  the  Southern  people  by  the  criminal  action  of  the  Demo¬ 
cratic  party,  we  are  and  must  be  the  more  solicitous  to  secure  a  Republican  nomination 
which  will  not  drive  from  its  support  the  Northern  voters  upon  which  alone  it  must  rely 
for  success. 

Impelled  thereto  by  these  reasons,  the  undersigned,  being  unable  as  a  result  of  busi¬ 
ness  and  other  engagements  to  attend  your  convention  in  person,  thus  present  to  you  our 
assurances  of  deep  interest  in  the  objects  we  understand  you  are  desiring  to  accomplish. 
As  Republicans  who  are  devoted  to  the  grand  old  party,  through  whose  agency  the  Repub¬ 
lic  has  been  saved  from  Treason,  redeemed  from  slavery  and  placed  on  the  highway  of  Pro¬ 
gress  and  Wealth,  and  as  citizens  who  deprecate  above  all  else  a  control  of  this  Nation  by 
the  Democratic  party — a  consummation  we  would  oppose  to  the  utmost — we  earnestly  desire 
that  your  convention  will  so  wisely  deliberate,  and  so  unitedly  and  forcibly  speak  as  that 
the  National  Republican  organization  may  be  spared  the  mistake,  and  the  American  Nation 
escape  the  disaster,  of  a  third-term  Presidential  nomination  at  Chicago  in  June  next. 

April  26,  1880.  Respectfully  Yours, 

Edward  Russell,  J.  P.  Stibolt,  H.  Lischer,  J.  W.  Thompson,  Geo.  H.  French,  H.  H. 
Benson,  H.  H.  Andressen,  G.  G.  Carstens,  R.  Smitham,  J.  B.  Fidlar,  W.  P.  Speer,  C.  A. 
Ficke,  J.  W.  Green,  S.  F.  Smith,  Nat.  French,  H.  R.  Claussen,  J.  Scott  Richman,  Elias  F. 
Chapin,  Geo.  W.  Ells,  W.  H.  Wilson,  W.  F.  Peck,  John  E.  Henry,  J.  D.  Campbell,  M.  J. 
Rohlfs,  and  others,  Davenport;  G.  B.  Dennison,  R.  T.  Thompson,  F.  R.  Lewis,  Geo.  W. 
Dillaway,  R.  M.  Burnett,  and  many  others,  Muscatine. 

To  the  Chairman  of  the  National  Republican  Anti-Third-Term  Convention : 

The  Republican  State  Convention  of  Wisconsin  being  held  about  the  same  time  as  your 
convention  at  St.  Louis,  our  citizens  have  given  the  former  their  particular  attention,  and 
secured,  as  far  as  the  city  and  county  of  Milwaukee  is  concerned,  a  unanimous  Anti-Third- 
Term  delegation.  To  achieve  this  result,  required  the  united  efforts  of  all  those  in  sym¬ 
pathy  with  the  Anti-Third-Term  Movement,  and  for  this  reason  the  St.  Louis  convention 
did  not  receive  that  attention  which  otherwise  would  have  been  given  it.  Appreciating 
the  importance,  however,  of  giving  expression  to  the  voice  of  Wisconsin  on  this  subject, 
we,  at  this  late  hour,  avail  ourselves  of  this  mode  to  express  our  heartiest  sympathies  with 
the  objects  of  your  convention,  and  to  convey  to  you  the  assurance  of  our  heartiest 
co-operation  in  your  efforts  to  avert  the  threatening  danger  of  a  third  term.  Had  time 
permitted,  this  letter  would  have  received  the  signatures  of  thousands  of  our  fellow 
citizens  who  earnestly  desire  the  success  of  true  Republican  principles. 

Milwaukee,  May  5,  1880. 


J  H.  Tesch, 

H.  M.  Mendel, 

Ed.  Asherman, 

R.  H.  Sabin, 

G.  Patek, 

Ant  Thormaeholkn, 


Fred  Dohenen, 


Guido  Pfister, 

Wm.  Frankfurth, 

J.  P.  Philips, 

C.  W.  Milbrath, 
Clarence  H.  Young, 
Aug.  Frank, 


Leo  Roth, 


L.  Maschauer, 
E.  J.  Lindsay, 
T.  F.  Bechtel, 

M.  Roth, 

Tul.  Goll, 

C.  A  .Meissner, 


To  the  Independent  Republican  Convention  at  St.  Louis,  Mo. : 

Gentlemen — The  German-American  Independent  Republican  Organization  of  New 
York  beg  to  confirm  the  opinions  expressed  in  the  enclosed  address  and  to  add  further: 


12 


They  do  not  believe  that  the  Chicago  Republican  Convention  will  seriously  consider  any 
-address  or  resolutions.protesting  against  the  nomination  of  General  Grant,  unless  that 
•convention  becomes  convinced  that  General  Grant,  if  nominated,  will  be  defeated. 

They  do  not  believe  that  such  conviction  can  be  imparted  to  that  body,  unless  an  Inde¬ 
pendent  Republican  Convention  will  meet  at  Chicago  previously  to  and  at  the  time  of  the 
Regular  Republican  Convention,  fully  prepared  to  uominate  a  third  candidate,  in  case  the 
latter  convention  should  nominate  General  Grant  or  any  candidate  whose  honesty  is  not 
beyond  suspicion. 

And  they  do  believe  that  if  such  a  third  candidate  is  a  well-known  citizen  of  undoubted 
ability  and  honesty,  standing  on  the  platform  adopted  by  the  Republican  party  in  1876, 
that  the  greater  part,  if  not  the  whole,  of  the  Republican  party  vote  may  be  concentrated 
upon  him  so  that  he  will  be  elected.  Very  respectfully, 

H.  Wesendon,  President. 

J.  Sciioenhof,  Secretary. 

New  Yoke,  April  30,  1880. 

Union  Central  Republican  Club,  of  Hamilton  Co.,  Ohio. 

The  members  of  the  Central  Union  Republican  club,  of  Hamilton  county,  Ohio,  repre¬ 
senting  the  mechanics  of  said  county  in  assembly: 

Resolved ,  That  we  regret  to  see  a  third-term  presidential  issue  forced  on  the  people  of 
this  country,  and  this  club  announces  its  earnest  adherence  to  the  Republican  principles 
which  limit  the  presidential  services  of  any  citizen  to  two  terms,  and  which  has  been 
wisely  illustrated  by  the  example  of  George  Washington,  requiring  that  the  tenure  of  the 
chief  magistrate  of  the  United  States  should  not  exceed  a  second  term. 

Resolved ,  That  we  are  earnestly  opposed  to  a  third  term  for  chief  magistrate  of  the  Uni¬ 
ted  States,  and  that  in  our  opinion  it  will  be  detrimental  to  our  Republican  form  of  gov¬ 
ernment.  Thos.  J.  Chard,  President, 

Chas.  Umberger,  Corresponding  Sec’y. 

Madison,  Wis.,  May  5,  1880. 

To  the  Chairman  of  the  National  Republican  Anti-Third-Term  Convention,  St.  Louis : 

The  undersigned,  delegates  to  the  Republican  state  convention,  most  heartily  sympa¬ 
thize  with  the  object  of  your  gathering  in  common  with  thousands  of  Republicans  in  every 
part  of  Wisconsin.  We  look  upon  a  re-nomination  of  Gen.  Grant  as  a  calamity  to  the  Re¬ 
publican  party,  and  we  join  in  your  efforts  to  prevent  such  a  result.  We  are  sincere  in 
the  belief  that  a  nomination  of  Gen.  Grant  would  bring  great  disaster  to  the  hitherto  vic¬ 
torious  cause  of  Republicanism  in  our  state.  But  for  the  fact  that  our  state  convention 
is  held  about  the  same  time  of  your  convention,  a  fair  representation  from  this  state 
-could  have  been  expected;  as  it  is,  we  have  come  to  Madison  in  the  same  interest,  believ¬ 
ing  that  by  so  doing  we  can  best  serve  the  purpose  we  have  in  common  with  you  in  view. 

(Signed.) 

Lemuel  Elsworth,  John  J.  Senn, 

Caspar  M.  Sanger,  Milwaukee  county.  R.  R.  Kempter,  Buffalo  county. 

Aug.  Kickbush,  K.  I.  Markstrum,  Maranthon  county,  and 

many  others. 

GERMAN  REPUBLICANS. 

Philadelphia,  May  5. 

To  the  President  of  the  Anti-Third-Term  Convention : 

Believing  with  an  overwhelming  majority  of  the  German- American  Republicans  of  our 
country  that  the  movement  of  the  machine  to'  force  a  third  term  for  Gen.  Grant,  not  be¬ 
cause  the  country  desires  it,  but  because  the  machine  demands  it  for  its  own  purposes,  we 
add  our  most  earnest  protest  against  his  nomination.  The  objections  to  a  third  term  as  a 
dangerous  precedent,  and  as  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  our  institutions  have  often  been  so 
ably  and  forcibly  presented,  and  are  so  unanswerable,  that  no  words  of  ours  but  those  of 
cordial  endorsement  can  give  them  additional  force.  We  would  not  in  the  least  detract 
from  the  eminent  military  services  of  Gen.  Grant;  he  will  ever  be  held  in  grateful  memory 
for  them  when  we  recall  his  lamentable  failure  as  a  civil  administrator.  The  cry  for  a 
strong  military  man  in  time  of  profound  peace ;  the  tacit  admission  that  the  Republican 
party  has  but  one  man  capable  of  being  its  standard-bearer,  call  for  a  determined  protest 
from  all  lovers  of  their  country.  We  demand  strong  civil  administration  pledged  to 
honesty,  economy  and  civil-service  reform,  and  shall  only  support  a  candidate  free  from 


13 


taint  or  suspicion  and  from  corrupt  associations.  We  assure  you  and  all  those  who  think 
and  act  with  you  of  our  cordial  co-operation. 

Rudolph  Blankenburg, 
Oswald  Seidensticker, 
Joseph  Kinke, 

Executive  Committee  of  Pennsylvania  German-American  Branch  of  the  National  Republi¬ 
can  League. 

YOUNG  REPUBLICANS, 

Providence,  R.  I.,  May  3,  1880. 
To  the  Convention  to  be  held  at  St.  Louis,  May  6,  1880: 

The  Young  Republican  club  desires  to  be  represented  in  your  convention  as  opposed  to 
the  nomination  of  Ulysses  S.  Grant  as  candidate  of  the  Republican  party  for  President  at 
the  next  presidential  election.  We  believe  it  to  be  extremely  doubtful  whether  he  could 
receive  the  electoral  vote  of  Rhode  Island. 

We  are  also  strenuously  opposed  to  the  nomination  of  James  G.  Blaine. 

At  the  last  state  election  the  bolters  from  the  Republican  party  succeeded  in  depriving 
the  regular  Republican  nominee  for  governor  of  an  election  by  the  people. 

Richard  B.  Comstock,  John  R.  Gladding, 

Benj.  I.  Wheeler,  Wm.  Sheafe  Chase, 

Frederick  P.  Read, 

Executive  Committee  of  the  Young  Republican  Club  of  Rhode  Island. 

WILL  NOT  VOTE  FOR  GRANT. 

North  Manchester,  Ind. 

While  adhering  to  the  principles  of  the  Republican  party  and  earnestly  desiring  its 
success  at  the  polls  in  November,  we  protest  against  the  nomination  of  any  man  who  is 
certain  to  lose  the  support  of  any  important  element  of  the  party,  and  are  therefore 
heartily  in  sympathy  with  the  purpose  named  in  the  call  made  by  your  committee  for  a 
convention  on  the  6th  inst.  Out  of  a  Republican  vote  of  about  two  hundred  in  the  town 
of  North  Manchester,  we,  the  undersigned,  are  outspoken  in  our  opposition  to  the  renomi¬ 
nation  of  Gen.  U.  S.  Grant  for  so  many  and  such  obvious  reasons  that  we  shall  not  under¬ 
take  to  herein  enumerate  them.  We  each  and  all  will  refuse  to  vote  for  Gen.  Grant,  even 
if  he  succeed  in  getting  the  Chicago  nomination,  and  believe  that  many  more  Republicans 
of  our  town,  while  not  so  outspoken  as  ourselves,  will  not  vote  for  him  if  nominated ;  and 
we  believe  that  our  town  is  not  an  exception,  but  a  fair  representative  of  the  feeling  in  the 
state  of  Indiana  in  regard  to  Gen.  Grant’s  candidacy.  We  hope  that  the  convention  to  be 
held  at  St.  Louis  on  the  6th  inst.  will  make  provisions  for  a  national  convention  of  Liberal 
Republicans  to  be  held  in  case  Gen.  Grant  secures  the  nomination  at  Chicago  to  place 
candidates  for  president  and  vice-president  in  nomination  to  whom  we  can  lend  our 
support.  Regretting  our  inability  to  attend  your  convention  in  a  body,  we  are  respectfully 
yours,  Geo.  W.  Gunder,  A.  A.  McKain,  D.  S.  Miller,  Thompson  Arnold,  A.  Miller,  James 
N.  Brady,  G.  W.  Eichholtz,  O.  C.  Rife,  F.  W.  Green,  A.  W.  Bowman,  E.  C.  C.  Olunant, 
Henry  Gunder,  J.  S.  Andrews. 

May  4,  1880. 

COMMITTEE  on  resolutions. 

Henry  Hitchcock  moved  the  appointment  by  the  chair  of  a  committee  of  thirteen  to  draft 
resolutions,  and  that  all  resolutions  touching  the  subject  of  platform  be  referred  to  that 
committee. 

The  motion  carried  and  the  chair  appointed  the  following  as  such  committee :  Henry 
Hitchcock,  St.  Louis;  Bluford  Wilson,  Illinois;  R.  A.  Hill,  Indiana;  J.  E.  Scripps,  Michi¬ 
gan;  J.  W.  Carter,  Massachusetts;  F.  W.  Whitridge,  New  York;  L.  H.  Dembity,  Ken¬ 
tucky;  E.  R.  Wood,  Pennsylvania;  R.  E.  Rombauer,  St.  Louis;  W.  W.  Williams,  Minne¬ 
sota;  B.  B.  Cahoon  and  Fred  Muench  of  Missouri,  and  J.  H.  Welch  of  Florida. 

The  secretary  read  a  resolution  offered  by  E.  W.  Fox,  declaring  against  the  candidacy 
of  Gen.  Grant  and  calling  for  a  convention  at  Philadelphia,  to  place  a  third  ticket  in  the 
field  in  the  event  of  Gen.  Grant’s  nomination  at  Chicago;  also  one  offered  by  W.  II.  Jones 
of  Ohio.  Both  were  referred  to  the  committee  on  resolutions. 


14 


oo^^Es^o^sriDEii^Ta^:. 


Maj.  Lucien  Eaton  then  read  a  large  number  of  letters  received  in  answer  to  invi¬ 
tations  to  take  part  in  the  convention.  When  his  voice  gave  out  he  was  relieved  by  Rev. 
John  Snyder.  The  correspondence  was  as  follows: 

FROM  THURLOW  WEED. 

New  York,  April  18,  1880. 

Gentlemen — I  am  in  receipt  of  your  invitation  to  attend  Anti-Third-Term  Repub¬ 
lican  Convention  to  be  held  at  St.  Louis  on  the  6th  of  May.  Approving  as  I  do  most 
cordially  of  the  objects  of  your  convention,  I  would  gladly  participate  in  its  deliberations, 
but  the  infirmities  incident  to  old  age  render  that  impracticable.  I  must  content  myself, 
therefore,  with  an  earnest  expression  of  hope  that  your  patriotic  efforts,  combined  with 
the  efforts  of  Republicans  in  other  States,  may  rescue  the  government  and  country  from 
impending  danger.  The  influences  that  will  inforce  Gen.  Grant’s  nomination,  should 
such  a  nomination  be  made,  will  insure  his  defeat.  The  premature  call  of  our  State 
convention,  coupled  with  the  methods  by  means  of  which  a  muzzled  delegation  was 
appointed,  rendered  the  success  of  our  ticket  at  least  doubtful.  If  delegates  thus  chosen 
here  act  with  delegates  from  States  sure  to  cast  their  electoral  vote  against  Grant,  his 
defeat  in  this  State  becomes  inevitable.  Will  our  Republican  friends  in  States  “  solid  ” 
for  Democracy,  if  seasonably  admonished,  deliberately  involve  themselves  with  us  in  a 
common  calamity?  If  Gen.  Grant  should  be  nominated,  he  will  be  indebted  not  to  the 
popular  sentiment  in  Republican  States,  but  to  Senators  Conkling,  Cameron  and  Logan, 
aided  bv  a  “solid  ”  vote  of  delegates  from  States  whose  presidential  electors  will  cast  a 
“  solid  ”  vote  against  their  nominee.  In  this  aspect  of  the  question,  I  cling  to  the  hope, 
either  that  the  three  distinguished  senators  named  will  discover  in  season  that  they  cannot 
afford  to  be  held  responsible  for  the  election  of  a  Democratic  president,  or  that  the  real 
friends  of  Gen.  Grant,  when  the  glamour  of  ovations  calculated  to  mislead  him  have 
subsided,  by  revealing  the  whole  and  exact  truth,  induce  the  withdrawal  of  his  name. 

Respectfully,  yours,  Thurlow  Weed. 

FROM  PRESIDENT  WOOLSEY. 

To  Emory  S.  Foster,  Esq.,  Secretary  of  the  Anti-third  Term  Convention: 

The  “Father  of  his  country”  was  urged  to  accept  an  election  for  a  third-term,  and 
persistently  refused,  although  there  were  weightier  reasons  for  his  making  the  opposite 
decision  than  there  have  been  at  any  time  since  he  left  the  presidential  chair.  The  course 
which  he  took  gave  rise  to  one  of  the  very  few  political  habits  of  the  United  States,  and  it 
is  the  only  one. which  relates  to  the  conduct  of  candidates  for  the  presidential  chair.  Are 
there  good  reasons  for  adhering  to  this  habit,  or  does  it  grow  out  of  blind  reverence  for  an 
illustrious  man,  and  nothing  more  ?  I  am  so  sure  that  it  is  founded  on  deep  conviction  in 
regard  to  the  highest  policy  of  the  country,  that  if  it  were  to  be  broken  through,  I  should 
at  once  hope  that  attempts  would  be  made  to  restrict  the  tenure  of  the  president’s  office 
to  a  single  term  by  a  constitutional  provision. 

One  great  reason  for  clinging  to  the  habit  is,  that,  if  it  were  given  up,  there  would  be 
increased  danger  that  the  general  government  would  fall  into  the  hands  of  a  faction  within 
a  party.  Government  by  party  there  must  be,  although  the  parties  may  agree  in  many  of 
their  principles  and  much  of  their  policy.  But  government  by  a  clique  will  arise  when 
persons  in  official  stations,  with  their  subordinates  distributed  over  a  country,  ipake  it  their 
great  aim  to  continue  in  office,  and  bind  the  chief  magistrate  to  themselves  by  working  for  his 
success.  The  life  and  purity  of  politics  consist  in  breaking  up  such  cliques  after  they  have 
had  their  brief  day  of  success.  A  third-term  president  is'  a  clique’s  new  lease  of  office. 
And  this  at  length  works  its  own  cure ;  for  it  cools  other  political  aspirants  within  the 
same  party,  or  provokes  them  to  combine  against  the  controling  faction,  and  disgusts  all 
honest  and  right-thinking  men.  Thus  while  a  third  term  would  be  advocated,  as  a  con¬ 
tinuance  in  power  of  the  same  party,  it  would  probably  be  the  deepest  injury  which  a  party 
or  its  leaders  could  inflict  on  its  permanence. 


15 


But,  again,  if  this  habit  were  overthrown,  a  president  himself  might  have  hopes  of  a 
new  term,  and  might  be  in  danger  of  making  corrupt  bargains  with  his  friends  and  parti-4 
sans.  The  increase  in  strength  of  personal  motives  necessarily  weakens  uprightness  in 
administration,  and  this,  again,  disaffects  the  better  members  of  a  party.  A  president  who 
obviously  wants,  or  is  wanted,  by  his  friends  to  have  the  highest  office  for  a  third  term, 
goes  into  his  office  under  renewed  obligations  to  old  friends,  which  are  too  strong  for  most 
minds  to  feel  and  yet  be  perfectly  honest  in  public  administration.  Thus,  in  a  democratic 
republic  especially,  great  evils  would  attend  elections  to  the  highest  office  for  the  third 
time. 

I  do  not,  indeed,  see  any  great  reason  to  apprehend  that  a  third  term  would  open  the 
way  to  a  bold,  bad  man  of  seizing  on  the  government  as  a  tryant,  and  getting  himself  con¬ 
firmed  by  a  plebiscite.  But  I  regard  it  as  a  link  in  the  chain  of  corruption  that  we  must 
look  as  our  chief  source  of  public  evil  to  a  body  of  active,  intriguing  politicians  on  the  one 
hand,  and  to  a  mass  of  passive  citizens  on  the  other,  who  let  political  questions  take  their 
course,  if  they  only  are  not  interfered  with  in  their  business  and  callings. 

Theodore  D.  Woolsey. 

FROM  THE  EDITOR  OF  THE  SPRINGFIELD  REPUBLICAN. 

Springfield,  Mass.,  April  6,  1880. 

Emory  S.  Foster,  Secretary  Anti-Third-Term  Convention,  St.  Louis: 

Dear  Sir — I  am  in  receipt  of  your  letter  and  circular  of  the  2d,  and  beg  to  say  that  your 
movement  in  opposition  to  the  third  term  has  my  hearty  support  as  a  private  citizen  and 
as  a  journalist.  *  *  *. 

The  anti-third-term  sentiment  is  very  strong  in  this  state  and  there  can  be  little  doubt 
that  we  shall  send  anti-Grant  delegates  to  the  Chicago  Convention. 

Yours  very  truly,  Samuel  Bowles. 

FROM  MURAT  HALSTEAD. 

Ex-Senator  Henderson  :  Cincinnati,  May  5,  1880. 

My  Dear  Sir — I  think  the  convention  will  lose  force  if  it  does  not  confine  itself 
strictly  to  hostility  to  third-termism.  Under  the  conditions  of  the  country  a  vote  for  a 
third  term  will  be  a  vote  to  confer  the  presidency  upon  Gen.  Grant  for  life,  with  an  invi¬ 
tation  to  him  to  drop  the  forms  of  election  as  soon  as  convenient,  and  an  urgent 
suggestion  that  he  shall,  whatever  happens,  declare  himself  elected  and  take  the  office, 
which  he  is  to  magnify  according  to  his  will. 

If  the  Republican  party  adopts  this  programme  by  the  nomination  of  Grant  it  will 
be  a  Grant  party — nothing  more.  The  highest  office  in  the  government  one  can  hope  to 
attain  after  that  is  that  of  favorite.  Assume  that  the  powers  arrayed  for  Grant  succeed 
we  shall  not,  of  course,  have  the  forms  of  monarchy,  but  all  the  evils  and  none  of  the 
good  of  that  mode  of  government.  Deadly  hostilities  to  these  tendencies  and  possibilities 
is  not  necessarily  personal  to  Grant;  it  is  loyalty  above,  all  considerations  of  individuals 
and  organizations  to  Republican  principles. 

The  third-term  issue  is  large  enough.  It  should  not  be  mixed  with  any  smaller  matters. 
There  should  be  no  discrimination  against  any  candidate  with  the  exception  of  ex-presi- 
dent,  and  we  should  draw  the  line  on  him  that  Washington  and  Jefferson  drew  on  them¬ 
selves. 

If  the  Republican  party  emerges  from  Chicago  the  third-term  party,  war  should  be 
declared  upon  it,  and  the  object  of  this  convention  should  be  to  make  ready  for  that  con¬ 
tingency.  There  should  be  no  other  issue  made  or  suggested.  Many  would  perhaps  be 
pleased  to  pose  as  civil  service  reformers,  but  I  do  not  believe  in  reform  that  in  theory  con 
templates  an  official  class,  and  in  practice  gives  the  political  power  of  the  States  of  Ne\i 
York  and  Pennsylvania  into  the  hands  of  enemies  whose  vanity  it  is  to  hold  the  admin 
istration  in  contempt. 

Massachusetts  has  set  a  bad  example  in  coupling  the  name  of  Blaine  with  that 
Grant.  Let  Blaine  alone.  He  is  doing  brave  work  against  the  third-term  treason,  and 
would  be  churlish  not  to  give  him  credit  for  it.  I  suppose  he  is  a  sinner,  but  I  would  foi 
give  him  his  sins  for  this  good  work,  and  give  him  the  glory  of  it. 


M.  Halstead. 


16 


S.  D.  BINGHAM  OF  MICHIGAN. 


^tHon.  J.  B.  Henderson  :  Lansing,  Mich.,  May  4,  1S80. 

Dear  Sir — 

*****  Michigan  will  do  her  whole  duty  by  sending  a  delegation  to  Chicago 
that  will  oppose  the  nomination  of  a  third-term  candidate,  as  unwise  and  dangerous  to 
success — for  which  we  are  all  working. 

I  trust  the  action  of  your  convention  will  be  dignified  and  manly,  and  that  the  result 
will  be  felt  at  Chicago.  No  attack  should  be  made  upon  any  candidate,  and  no  threats  of  a 
bolt  in  case  the  wishes  of  the  conveution  are  not  complied  with. 

I  do  not  think  Gen.  Grant  will  be  nominated.  Yours  truly, 

S.  D.  Bingham. 

BETTER  CALL  A  HALT. 


Paducah,  Ivy.,  April  1,  1880. 

Dear  Sir — I  heartily  approve  the  action  proposed  in  the  resolutions  you  enclose.  I 
shall  do  all  in  my  power  to  promote  the  end  desired  by  the  organization  of  the  anti-third 
term  movement.  If  Grant  is  to  be  the  nominee  of  the  Republican  party,  then  it  is  time 
that  opposition  to  such  folly  should  make  itself  felt.  Even  if  elected,  with  the  influences 
which  will  inevitably  surround  Grant,  the  Republican  party  could  not  survive  another  of 
his  administrations.  We  had  better  call  a  halt  now,  before  we  are  committed  beyond  re¬ 
demption, 

I  fear  I  shall  not  be  able  to  attend  your  convention,  but  I  hope  the  line  of  conduct  we 
shall  pursue,  in  the  event  Grant  is  nominated,  will  be  unequivocally  announced — not  in 
spirit  of  menace,  but  as  the  conclusion  of  our  deliberate  convictions. 

The  general  impression  here,  among  thinking  Republicans,  is,  that  if  Grant  is  nomi¬ 
nated  he  will  be  defeated,  unless  the  Democrats  nominate  Tilden  or  commit  some  other 
equally  egregious  blunder.  The  opposition  here  is  stronger  against  Grant  than  against  a 
third  term.  Very  Respectfully, 

Emory  S.  Foster,  Esq.,  Secretary,  etc.,  St.  Louis,  Mo.  E.  W.  Bagby. 


•  FROM  FRED  HASSAUREK. 

Cincinnati,  May  1,  1880. 

Emory  S.  Foster,  Esq. — Dear  Sir:  I  am  opposed  to  the  nomination  of  Gen  Grant  or 
any  other  presidential  candidate  for  a  third  term.  I  do  not  even  believe  that  a  president 
should  be  elected  for  a  second  term.  No  act  or  expression  of  President  Hayes  has  met 
with  such  general  and  unqualified  approval  as  his  announcement  in  the  beginning,  that 
he  would  under  no  circumstances,  be  a  candidate  for  re-election.  The  unanimity  with 
which  the  country  has  acquiesced  in  this  his  original  pledge,  in  spite  of  his  irreproachable 
administration,  clearly  proves  the  people’s  belief  in  the  correctness  of  the  principle  upon 
which  his  prospective  refusal  was  based.  I  hope  the  day  is  not  far  distant,  when  this 
general  belief  will  take  the  shape  of  a  constitutional  amendment,  extending  the  term  of  the 
office  of  president  and  prohibiting  the  re-election  of  its  incumbent. 

It  has  become  fashionable  in  some  circles  to  sneer  at  the  opposition  to  a  third  term  as 
a  superstition.  Under  this  superstition,  however,  our  institutions  have  been  strengthened 
and  preserved.  With  this  superstition  our  country  has  become  great  and  remained  free. 
If  it  be  superstition  to  cherish  a  proper  reverence  for  the  teachings  and  the  example  of  the 
fathers  of  the  republic,  I  can  only  say  let  this  superstition  be  maintained.  I  am  super¬ 
stitious  enough  to  believe  that  Gen.  Washington  was  a  greater  man  than  Gen  Grant. 

My  best  wishes  for  the  success  of  your  convention,  I  have  the  honor  to  remain  yours 
very  truly,  F.  Hassaurek. 

ANY  REPUBLICAN  BETTER  THAN  GRANT 

Wilmington,  N.  C.,  April  15,  1880. 

Dear  Sir — The  movement  that  you  have  inaugurated  has  my  entire  sympathy,  and  in 
whatever  way  I  can  aid  you  will  give  me  very  great  pleasure  to  do  so.  I  am  opposed  t 
the  third  term.  I  am  in  favor  of  any  Republican  in  preference  to  Gen.  Grant,  not  because 
I  am  opposed  to  the  individual,  but  I  am  against  the  policy  of  overriding  the  unwritten 
law  concerning  the  third  term.  *  *  *  Very  truly,  yours,  W.  P.  Cannday. 


17 


FROM  EX-SENATOR  FENTON. 

Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  Mav  x,  1880. 
My  Dear  Sir —  ??? 

*  *  *  I  approve  of  the  object  of  the  meeting  as  I  understand  it.  I  am  opposed  to 

Gen.  Grant’s  nomination,  both  because  of  its  third-term  character  and  because,  also,  for 
other  reasons,  I  think  it  would  put  in  peril  our  party  success.  *  *  * 

Very  respectfully  yours,  R.  E.  Fenton. 

Hon.  Jno.  B.  Henderson,  St.  Louis: 

NOT  FIT  TO  BE  MADE. 

Pensacola,  Fla.,  April  1G,  1880. 

Fred.  T.  Ledergerber,  Secretary: 

Dear  Sir — The  circular  of  your  committee  is  at  hand  and  meets  a  most  hearty  response 
from  myself  and  numerous  others,  who  want  the  Republican  party  to  exist  in  the  future 
as  iu  the  past,  the  party  of  liberty.  If,  as  is  claimed  by  the  third-termers,  “  we  need  a 
strong  man,”  liis  name  is  not  Gen.  Grant.  We  had  more  outrages  and  lost  more  elections 
in  anyone  year  of  his  last  four  years’  “  reign  ”  than  in  all  the  other  eleven  years  I  have 
resided  here.  All  we  require  is  an  open  field  for  truth,  and  that  we  now  have,  and  are 
sure  of  Florida  under  any  other  leader  than  Grant.  I  cannot  and  will  not  undertake  to 
canvass  the  state  to  make  apologies  for  a  nomination  “not  fit  to  be  made.”  We  have 
numerous  capable  statesmen  upon  whom  we  can  call  to  fill  the  presidential  chair.  I  leave 
for  a  conference  with  leading  members  of  the  party  this  morning,  and  will  advise  you  if 
we  can  send  a  delegate  to  the  convention. 

We  are  a  poor  people  and  have  long  distances  to  travel  in  our  own  state,  and  the  state 
convention  meeting  in  early  May  will  absorb  our  available  material  for  delegates. 

The  Grant  bulldozers  are  moving  earth  and  hell  here  to  get  an  indorsement  of  their 
candidate  from  the  convention.  We  do  not  think  they  will  succeed. 

My  advices  from  the  East  and  North  point  toward  the  defeat  of  three  terms. 

Yours,  S.  C.  Cobb. 

NO  REASON  FOR  A  THIRD  TERM. 

*  Austin,  Texas,  May  1,  1880. 

Emory  S.  Foster,  Esq.,  Secretary  Executive  Committee  Anti-Third-Temi  Party,  S.  Louis, 

Mo. : 

Dear  Sir — I  am  iu  hearty  sympathy  with  the  objects  of  the  convention.  I  am 
unalterably  opposed  to  a  third  term  for  any  man,  and  I  can  see  no  reason  why  Gen.  Grant 
should  be  again  elected  president.  I  refused  to  support  him  for  a  second  term  and  joined 
with  the  Liberal  Republicans  in  1872  to  secure  his  defeat,  and  if  it  had  not  been  for  the 
treachery  of  the  Democracy  the  nation  would  have  been  saved  much  of  the  disgrace 
brought  upon  it  by  his  administration.  If  two  terms  were  sufficient  for  Washington,  it 
certainly  should  be  for  Grant.  I11  fact,  I  have  always  believed  that  the  presidential  term 
of  office  should  be  extended  to  six  years,  and  an  amendment  to  the  national  constitution 
should  be  adopted  preventing  any  man  from  being  elected  to  that  office  a  second  time. 

But  if  there  were  no  objection  to  a  third  term,  I  can  see  no  reason  why  Gen.  Grant 
should  be  again  elected  to  the  office  of  president.  His  previous  administration  "was  a  by¬ 
word  and  a  reproach,  and  a  very  stink  in  the  nostrils  of  honest  men.  He  went  into  office 
when  the  great  Republican  party  was  in  the  zenith  of  its  power  and  glory.  He  left  office  when 
he  and  his  administration  had  brought  that  party  to  the  very  verge  of  defeat  and  disgrace. 
The  very  men — the  whiskey  thieves  and  corruptionists  —  the  machine  politicians,  who 
brought  disgrace  and  infamy  upon  his  previous  administrations,  are  now  the  ones  who  are 
demanding  and  clamoring  for  his  nomination  again,  that  they  may  once  more  revel  in  their 
rascalities. 

I  cast  my  first  vote  in  1854  in  Pennsylvania  for  the  last  nominee  of  the  old  Whig  party 
in  that  state  for  governor,  and  for  twrenty-six  years  I  have  opposed  the  Democratic  party, 
but  I  earnestly  feel  that  it  would  be  better  for  the  country  and  better  for  the  Republican 
party  that  Grant  should  be  defeated  if  his  nomination  is  forced  on  the  party,  than  that  we 
should  have  success  with  him  as  our"  candidate.  Much  as  I  would  deplore  the  success  of 
the  so-called  Democratic  party,  and  regret  the  defeat  of  the  Republicans,  I  believe  the 
country  and  the  Republican  party  could  better  stand  four  years  of  Democratic  rule  than  it 


18 


could  another  four  years  of  Grant,  and  these  I  believe  are  the  sentiments  of  very  many  of 
the  best  and  most  intelligent  Republicans  in  Texas. 

1  trust  the  convention  may  be  a  great  success,  that  its  deliberations  may  be  harmonious 
and  that  it  may  be  the  means  of  averting  the  disastrous  defeat  of  the  Republican  party, 
that  will  surely  follow  the  nomination  of  Gen.  Grant  as  its  candidate.  Very  truly  yours. 

W.  Y.  Leader, 
Editor  Daily  Dispatch. 


DON’T  LIKE  THE  COMPANY. 

Cambridge,  Mass.,  April  17,  1880. 

Henry  Hitchcock,  Esq. : 

Dear  Sir — I  ought  to  say,  in  candor,  that  while  I  am  decidedly  opposed  to  the  renom¬ 
ination  of  Gen.  Grant,  I  do  not,  individually,  feel  any  objection  to  nominating  any  satis¬ 
factory  candidate  for  a  third  term.  I  do  not  share  the  sentiment  on  that  point  which  is 
felt  by  many  wise  and  good  men.  The  fact  that  it  is  felt  so  generally  is,  however,  a  strong 
argument  against  the  nomination  of  Gen.  Grant.  *  *  * 

My  objection  to  it  arises  mainly  from  the  bad  political  company  which  the  General 
keeps.  For  him  I  have  a  great  respect.  With  thanks  for  the  invitation,  I  am 

Very  truly  yours, 

H.  Thayer. 


FROM  REV.  DR.  BELLOWS. 

282  East  Fifteenth  St.,  N.  Y.  ) 

April  30,  1880.  j 


Dear  Sir — I  regret  not  to  be  able  to  share  in  person  the  meeting  on  the  6th  of  May, 
but  it  costs  little  time  or  trouble  to  send  my  opinion,  of  little  importance  as  it  maybe,  to  an 
assembly  of  brains  and  worth  and  patriotism,  such  as  I  am  sure  yours  will  be. 

I  am  opposed  from  strong  conviction  to  the  third  term  of  any  man.  The  third 
term  means  no  limit  to  the  occupation  of  the  presidential  chair,  if  the  ambition  of  the  pos¬ 
sessor  wishes  to  hold  it,  and  the  people  consent,  when  they  are  strong  to  prevent,  until 
they  are  weakened  by  acquiescence  and  have  lost  the  power  to  contend  with  the  machine 
which  strengthens  with  uninterrupted  possession  of  all  the  inummerable  offices  in  the  gift 
of  the  administration.  There  is  no  radical  means  of  preventing  this,  except  the  one-term 
rule  (make  the  term  six  years  if  you  will),  which  President  Hayes  deserves  the  credit  of 
having  voluntarily  committed  himself  to,  and  of  having  honorably  adhered  to.  This  pur¬ 
pose  lias  made  him  to  the  extent  of  his  power  a  civil-service  reformer,  and  all  that  is  highly 
creditable  in  his  administration  centers  round  his  reform  in  the  New  York  custom-house, 
the  old  hub  of  the  machine  in  New  York. 

And  when  the  third  term  connects  itself,  as  it  does  in  the  approaching  election,  with  a 
military  man,  whose  name  and  fame  are  chiefly  that  of  a  soldier,  I  object  with  an  added 
alarm  and  a  more  resolute  resistance.  Every  argument  used  in  favor  of  Gen.  Grant’s 
election  or  nomination  is  with  me  an  argument  against  it. 

First — He  put  down  the  rebellion ! 

Is  it  to  put  down  rebellions  that  presidents  are  to  be  chosen  in  peaceful  times?  Then, 
alas,  we  surrender  all  our  boast — of  a  country  safe  in  its  laws  and  its  people’s  love;  in  its 
freedom  and  its  preference  for  its  own  constitution !  Are  we  ready  to  confess  that  we 
have  sunk  into  the  condition  of  a  Mexican  or  South  American  province  and  rely  on  our 
arms  for  our  ordinary  safety? 

It  is  dangerous  to  say  as  much  as  that  General  Grant  put  down  the  rebellion.  The 
people  put  it  down  under  a  president  that  selected  a  competent  general  to  do  the  people’s 
will. 

Now,  you  wish  to  have  the  president  and  the  general  in  the  same  skin.  It  was  a 
mistake  to  make  Gen.  Grant  president  once;  it  was  a  folly  to  make  him  president  twice; 
it  will  be  a  madness,  if  not  a  crime,  to  make  him  president  for  a  third  term.  Heaven 
knows  we  want  no  voting  by  platoons !  The  machinery  and  the  necessities  of  war  are  the 
precise  reverse  of  all  the  virtues  and  habits  required  in  peace.  To  obliterate  individuality 
is  the  very  object  of  the  uniform;  to  restore  it  and  maintain  it,  of  the  citizen’s  coat,  of  ail 
colors  and  shades.  Epaulets  in  the  presidential  chair  are  an  anomaly  and  mean  spurs  in 


the  saddle,  where  the  people  are  ridden.  Third-term  presidents  tend  to  become  princes 
and  are  tyrants  in  the  making. 

It  is  not,  however,  the  ambition  of  Gen.  Grant  or  any  other  soldier  that  is  to  be  most 
dreaded;  it  is  the  madness  and  stupidness  of  the  people  led  by  party  fuglemen,  who  mis¬ 
take  an  available  for  a  desirable  or  a  safe  candidate. 

Second — The  chief  argument  for  Grant’s  nomination  is  that  he  can  be  elected!  If 
that  is  his  best  claim  it  is  one  dangerous  to  encourage.  I  object  to  putting  forward  this 
claim  so  unblushingly.  It  means  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  have  resigned  the 
hope  or  expectation  of  putting  the  man  they  choose  and  are  obliged  to  have  the  man  that 
circumstances  render  eligible.  This  is  a  confession  of  failure  in  our  Republican  principled 
which  it  is  mortifying  to  accept  and  which  we  repudiate.  Respectfully  yours, 

Henry  W.  Bellows. 


JOHN  T.  RUNYAN,  N.  J. 

Keyport,  April  6,  18S0. 

Emory  S.  Foster,  Secretary  : 

Dear  Sir — New  Jersey  is  opposed  to  the  third-term  business.  I  have  been  se¬ 
lected  by  the  Republicans  of  this  township  to  represent  them  at  the  state  convention, 
which  meets  in  Trenton,  May  6,  and  would  say  that  we  passed  resolutions  opposing  the 
third  term.  *  *  *  Yours,  &c.  John  T.  Runyan. 

WHAT  CARL  SCHURZ  SAYS. 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Mr.  Henderson  : — You  need  not  fear  that  I  shall  remain  silent  and  inactive 
when  the  real  tug  of  war  comes,  if  it  does  come.  As  to  my  post  of  duty  under  such  cir¬ 
cumstances,  my  mind  is  fully  made  up.  *  *  *  Carl  Schurz. 


JAMES  FREEMAN  CLARKE. 

Jamaica  Plain,  Mass.,  May  2,  1880. 

My  Dear  Sir — *  *  *  If  the  Republican  party  is  so  mad  as  to  nominate  Grant,  after  all 
their  experience  of  his  past  administration,  I  shall  see  nothing  before  them  but  defeat 
and  disaster.  They  will  then,  to  please  the  machine,  throw  away  an  almost  certain  pros¬ 
pect  of  victory  under  any  good  man.  Is  it  not  paying  rather  heavily  in  order  to  please 
Conkling  and  Cameron?  Yours  very  truly,  James  Freeman  Clarke. 

Hon.  John  B.  Henderson,  St.  Louis. 

BRIEF  DISPATCHES. 

Washington,  D.  C.,  May  5,  1880. 

To  Hon.  John  B.  Henderson,  St.  Louis: 

Public  duty  keeps  me  here.  My  belief  is  that  no  citizen,  whatever  his  public  service 
and  however  much  he  may  be  endeared  to  our  people  by  reason  of  his  great  and  noble 
qualities  as  a  soldier  or  statesman,  can  or  ought  to  be  elected  a  third  time  president  of 
this  republic.  The  experiment  will  be  disastrous  to  the  party  and  particularly  to  the 
candidate  that  thus  attempts  to  brave  public  opinion.  *  *  Ben.  Butterworth. 


WM.  R.  MOORE,  MEMPHIS. 

Memphis,  Tenn.,  April  12,  1880. 

Emory  S.  Foster,  Secretary,  &c.,  St.  Louis,  Mo.: 

Dear  Sir — I  am  not  engaged  in  politics,  but  feel,  nevertheless,  as  a  private  citizen  and 
business  man,  a  very  deep  interest  in  the  question  at  issue.  Born,  reared,  and  always 
identified  in  interest  and  by  family  ties,  with  the  Southern  section  of  our  common  country, 
I  have, notwithstanding,  ever  voted  the  Republican  ticket  in  opposition  to  all  my  rela¬ 
tives,  neighbors,  &c.,  and  done,  in  addition,  all  that  I  could,  to  preserve  intact  the  rich 
heritage  bequeathed  to  us  in  the,  to  me,  sacred  Union,  handed  down  to  us  by  the  “  Fa¬ 
thers  of  the  Republic.  ”  I  voted  for  Lincoln,  Grant  and  Hayes,  and  yield  to  no  one  now 
in  loyalty  and  gratitude  to  Gen.  Grant  for  the  great  services  he  has  rendered  to  his  and 
my  country.  But  with  all  this  I  feel  that  I  in  no  way  detract  from  his  grand  character  by 
now  declining  to  place  him  in  a  position  which  would,  I  feel,  do  great  violence  as  well  to 


20 


\ 


my  own  sense  of  patriotism  as  the  sacred  cause  which  he  has  so  nobly  served,  and  which 
can  be  preserved,  I  think,  by  an  adherence  to  the  landmarks  of  our  history,  as  laid  down 
by  Washington  and  Jefferson  and  Jackson,  and  the  many  others  to  whom  we  have  been 
taught  to  look  for  safe  political  guidance.  I  deem  it  of  the  first  importance  that  we 
should  select  a  candidate  whose  political  acts  in  the  past  will  not  in  the  coming  campaign 
place  us  on  the  defensive.  We  have  several  able  Republicans  talked  of  for  the  presiden¬ 
cy  whose  records,  in  case  of  a  nomination,  will  require  constant  explanations  and  defence. 
Let’s  avoid  them  and  take  one  whose  past  course  defends  itself. 

Very  respectfully,  Wm.  R.  Moore. 

Madison,  Wis.,  May  5,  1880. 

To  Emory  S.  Foster,  Secretary  Anti-Third-Term  Convention,  St.  Louis: 

Republican  convention  declared  against  third-term  by  electing  nineteen  anti-Grant 
men  to  one  in  his  favor.  W.  W.  Coleman,  Daily  and  Weekly  Herald. 

WILL  REFUSE  TO  VOTE. 

Philadelphia,  April  12,  1880. 

Gentlemes — I  heartily  approve  of  the  contents  of  your  circular  and  sincerely  hope 
your  convention  of  May  6  may  meet  with  the  success  which  it  deserves.  In  my  opinion 
the  Republicans  of  Pennsylvania  are  decidedly  opposed  to  the  nomination  of  Gen.  Grant 
again,  and  if  the  leaders  of  the  party  should,  by  force,  be  able  to  make  him  the  nominee, 
a  very  respectable  proportion  of  the  usual  followers  will  remain  away  from  the  polls.  *  *  * 

Very  truly  yours,  Sam’l"  W.  Pennypacker. 

• 

LEMON  THOMPSON,  ALBANY. 

New  York,  Apr.  30. 

Fred.  T.  Ledergerber,  Esq.: 

************1  fully  sympathize  with 
the  object  of  the  meeting  as  set  forth  in  the  call  dated  St.  Louis, March  25,1880.  I  sincere¬ 
ly  feel  that  such  a  meeting  is  highly  necessary  and  proper.  I  should  be  very  glad  to  take 
part  in  it ;  I  should  feel  that  I  was  discharging  a  patriotic  duty.  The  renomination  of 
Gen.  Grant  would  be  a  great  calamity,  both  to  the  country  and  the  Republican  party. 
I  could  not  consent  to  support  him,  and  there  are  tens  of  thousands  of  other  Republicans 
who  would  feel  and  act  the  same.  Gen.  Grant’s  nomination  is  being  planned  and  urged 
by  a  class  of  dishonest  and  corrupt  machine  politicians  who  do  not  represent  the  people 
or  the  party,  and  Gen.  Grant  has  put  himself  in  the  hands  of  these  men,  who,  by  appeal¬ 
ing  to  his  ambition  and  love  of  power,  are  leading  him  blindly  to  his  own  and  his  country’s 
destruction.  If  the  Republican  convention  should  nominate  Gen.  Grant  and  the  Demo¬ 
cratic  convention  should  nominate  Samuel  J.  Tilden  I  could  not  support  either  of  them; 
I  would  be  in  favor  in  such  a  case  of  nominating  a  third  man.  I  know  of  no  man  who 
would  awaken  more  enthusiasm  and  satisfy  the  best  element  of  both  parties  better  than 
Benj.  A.  Bristow  of  Kentucky.  I  hope  that  the  St.  Louis  convention  will  make  provisions 
for  such  a  contingency. 

Very  truly  yours,  Lemon  Thompson. 


W.  W.  WILLIAMS,  MINNESOTA. 

Albert  Lea,  Minn.,  April  26,  1880. 

Maj.  E.  S.  Foster: 

Sir — Yours  of  the  22d  received.  I  intend  to  lie  with  you  on  the  6th  if  I  can  possibly  do 
so.  My  heart  is  in  the  work  and  I  want  to  see  it  succeed.  We  are  getting  up  a  local  organ¬ 
ization  here ;  it  numbers  123  after  one  day’s  canvass,  all  Republicans  and  many  of  them  Scan¬ 
dinavians,  almost  all  of  whom  say  they  will  not  vote  for  Grant  if  he  be  nominated.  I  am  in 
the  fight,  and  propose  to  neither  give  nor  take  quarter,  but  to  fight  it  out  on  this  line,  and 
I  much  prefer  defeat  with  a  good  candidate  than  success  with  a  bad  one. 

Yours  truly,  W.  W.  Williams. 


FROM  GEORGE  WILLIAM  CURTIS. 

The  following  dispatch  from  George  William  Curtis,  Esq.,  dated  at  New  Brighton, 
Staten  Island,  was  received  by  the  executive  committee  on  the  4th  inst. : 


21 


“  1  am  unable  to  come  to  St.  Louis,  but  I  sympathize  with  all  Republicans  who  under 
present  circumstances  oppose  a  third-term  nomination.  I  see  no  good  reason  in  the  con¬ 
dition  of  public  affairs  for  endangering  the  success  of  the  Republican  party  by  committing 
it  unnecessarily  to  the  overthrow  of  a  sound  and  conservative  tradition  of  the  government, 
which  has  been  formally  accepted  by  the  party  in  many  States,  and  which  has  never  been 
questioned  or  violated.  Geoiige  William  Curtis.” 

AGAINST  GRANT  ON  ANY  TERMS. 

Cambridge,  Mass.,  April  25,  1880. 

Emory  S.  Foster,  Esq.,  or  F.  T.  Ledergerber,  Secretary  Anti-Third-Term  Convention: 

Dear  Sir — I  regret  that  I  cannot  attend  the  anti-third-term  convention  at  St.  Louis. 
As  I  have  once  before  written  on  another  occasion,  I  am  so  opposed  to  a  third  term,  that 
I  should  oppose  it  even  if  Washington  or  Lincoln  were  the  candidate,  and  so  opposed  to 
the  renomination  of  Gen.  Grant  that  I  should  object  to  it  even  were  the  third-term  question 
not  involved.  Very  truly  yours, 

Thos.  Wentworth  Higginson. 
FROM  A  FRIEND  OF  GRANT. 

New  York,  April  26. 

Henry  Hitchcock,  Esq.,  Chairman: 

Dear  Sir — *  *  *  I  have  long  been  a  friend  of  Gen.  Grant,  and  am  so  still.  I  joined  the  late 
A.  T.  Stewart  and  others  of  this  city  in  the  first  request  to  the  general  to  allow  his  name 
to  be  presented  as  a  candidate  for  the  presidency.  Now  I  am  ready  to  join  in  a  request 
that  he  shall  do  himself  the  great  honor  to  be  the  first  to  refuse  the  office  of  President, 
and  thus  set  at  rest  the  hearts  of  his  Republican  friends. 

Yours  most  respectfully, 

Wm.  H.  Webb. 


FOR  A  STRONG  DECLARATION. 

Philadelphia,  April  17,  1880. 

Fred.  T.  Ledergerber,  Esq.,  S.  W.  corner,  Fifth  and  Olive  streets,  St.  Louis,  Mo. : 

Dear  Sir — *  *  *  I  hope  there  maybe  issued  such  a  strong,  clear,  manly,  temperate  declara¬ 
tion  of  principles  as  will  cause  those  inconsiderate  advocates  of  the  third  term  to  pause 
ere  they  attempt  to  force  upon  the  country  such  an  evil  as  would  most  assuredly  ensue 
upon  the  renomination  of  Gen.  Grant.  He  lias  done  the  country  much  service,  and  he 
has  been  honored  thereby ;  let  him  not  press  it,  and  himself,  into  serious  trouble  by  a 
vaulting  ambition.  Very  respectfully, 

Natii.  E.  Janney. 

HOPES  FOR  SUCCESS. 

Hillsboro,  III.,  May  3,  1880. 

Emory  S.  Foster,  Esq. : 

Dear  Sir —  *  *  *  It  was  my  good  fortune  to  be  present  at  Jackson,  Michi¬ 

gan,  July  0,  1854,  when  the  Republican  party  was  named,  and  have  been  a  stalwart  ever 
since.  I  belong  to  the  somewhat  numerous  class  of  Republicans  who  have  a  decided 
prejudice  against  a  third  term.  In  the  event  of  Gen.  Grant’s  nomination,  we  shall  have 
to  face  the  following  dilemma : 

(1)  We  can  help  elect  Gen.  Grant,  for  whom  we  have  a  high  respect  and  admiration,  but 
in  doing  so  we  must  discard  a  wholesome  precedent  which  we  deem  of  much  value ;  or,  (2) 
we  can  help  defeat  Gen.  Grant.  This  would  put  a  final  extinguisher  on  third-term  ism, 
but  it  would  involve  the  serious  effect  of  turning  the  government  over  to  the  control  of  a 
party  we  profoundly  distrust. 

Let  us  see  whether  there  is  any  escape  from  these  alternatives.  I  think  there  is  a  grow¬ 
ing  recognition  of  the  fact  that  we  have  the  best  and  purest  government,  when  the  three 
powers,  president,  senate  and  house,  are  not  all  in  the  hands  of  one  party.  If  the  senate 
were  chiefly  Republican,  I  think  we  might  extinguish  third-termism  at  the  cost  of  a  Demo¬ 
cratic  president,  and  deem  it  a  good  bargain.  We  of  the  ranks  care  little  who  divide  the 
spoils. 

But,  unfortunately,  the  senate  is  not  Republican.  What  the  next  house  of  representa¬ 
tives  will  be  cannot  be  known  till  after  the  presidential  election.  But  the  defeat  of  a  third- 


term  president  is  quite  consistent  with  the  choice  of  a  Republican  house.  It  might  even 
be  made  in  some  small  degree  to  promote  that  result — for  many  Democrats,  as  well  as  Re¬ 
publicans,  confess  the  ill  effects  of  intrusting  all  the  powers  to  one  party.  Between  third- 
termism  and  complete  Democratic  rule  I  should  submit,  with  an  ill-grace,  to  a  third-term. 
But  with  a  reasonable  assurance  of  a  Republican  house,  I  incline  to  the  other  horn  of 
the  dilemma. 

With  the  highest  esteem  for  Gen.  Grant,  who  has  twice  had  my  suffrage,  I  am  just  now 
half  angry  with  him  for  not  perceiving  that  the  new  honor  which  the  nation  seems  ready 
to  lay  at  his  feet  is  offered  at  a  cost  which  the  nation  can  ill  afford.  Apart  from  personal 
and  temporary  aspects,  it  must  be  as  plain  to  him,  as  to  say,  that  the  traditional  limita¬ 
tion  on  the  tenure  of  the  office  forms  a  safe  and  wholesome  rule ;  and  that  the  nation 
would  be  the  poorer  for  the  sacrifice  of  a  prescription  which  it  lias  taken  a  century  to 
establish.  If  there  existed  an  emergency  which  he  alone  could  adequately  fdl,  the  case 
would  be  different. 

The  suggestion  of  Csesarism  as  connected  with  Gen.  Grant  is  too  absurd  for  discussion. 
Yet  it  is  plain  that  if,  in  the  near  or  distant  future,  ambitious  Caesarism  should  confront 
us  in  earnest,  it  might  be  a  matter  of  vital  moment  whether  the  traditional  policy  of  the 
nation’s  first  century  had  been  confirmed  or  reversed. 

Edmund  Fish. 

O.  H.  BROWNING,  QUINCY,  ILL. 

Quincy,  III.,  April  26,  1880. 

Dear  Sir — Although  having  no  party  affiliations,  I  am  not  indifferent  to  the  course  of 
political  events,  and  never  fail  to  exercise  the  high  privilege  and  to  discharge  the  impera¬ 
tive  duty  of  voting,  not  for  partisans,  but  for  those  I  may  believe  the  most  worthy  and  best 
fitted  for  the  duties  of  the  positions  to  which  they  may  be  elevated. 

Noav,  if  the  Republicans  shall  nominate  Gen.  Grant  and  the  Democrats  Mr.  Tilden  I 
cannot  conscientiously  support  either  of  them,  and  there  are  many  others  in  the  same 
dilemma  with  myself. 

What  I  wish  to  know,  therefore,  is,  whether  in  tliecontingency  above  supposed,  it  is 
the  purpose  of  the  St.  Louis  Convention  to  furnish  a  candidate  who  can  be  heartily  sup¬ 
ported  by  those  who  are  more  anxious  to  promote  the  interests  of  the  country,  than  to  up¬ 
hold  an  administration  in  the  interest  merely  of  party  spoilsmen  and  rings. 

Yaurs  truly,  O.  II .  Browning. 

Hon.  Jxo.  B.  Henderson,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

HON.  JOHN  BRINDLEY,  WISCONSIN. 

Boscobel,  Wis.  April  29,  1880. 

The  resolutions  received  express  my  sentiments  exactly,  and  nearly  all  the  Republi¬ 
cans  in  this  part  of  our  state  would  gladly  say  the  same  to  you.  *  *  * 

Yours  truly,  John  Brindley, 

Member  Wisconsin  State  Legislature. 

UNALTERABLY  FIXED 

Cromwell,  Conn.,  April  29,  1880. 

F.  T.  Ledergerber,  Esq.,  St.  Louis: 

Dear  Sir — Your  note  of  invitation  to  the  St.  Louis  conference  next  month  is  at 
hand. 

It  would  give  me  great  pleasure  to  be  present  and  to  give  my  voice,  vote  and  influence 
against  the  third-term  project. 

I  am  unalterably  fixed  in  my  opposition.  I  shall  under  no  circumstances  vote  for 
Grant.  My  opposition  is  not  so  much  due  to  the  fact  that  it  would  be  his  third  term,  as 
to  my  conviction  of  his  unfitness  for  the  office.  His  election  means  a  return  to  the  corrupt 
pi'actices  of  his  last  administration.  It  means  a  control  of  the  Government  patronage 
by  a  senatorial  ring  composed  of  Cameron,  Carpenter,  Conkling,  Logan,  etc.  It  means 
a  “kitchen  ”  and  “  horse  jockey  ”  cabinet.  It  means  a  reaction  from  the  clean,  upright 
administration  of  Hayes. 

Wishing  your  movement  success,  I  am  sincerely  yours. 


M.  S.  Dudley. 


23 


FROM  GRANT’S  NATIVE  COUNTY. 

Bethel,  O.,  April  19,  1880. 

Anti-Third-Term  League,  St.  Louis: 

Gents — In  response  to  your  call  let  me  say  to  you  that  this  (Clermont)  is  Grant’s 
native  county,  and  that  this  village  was  for  many  years  the  home  of  the  Grant  family,  and 
the  General  has  many  relatives  now  living  here.  We  regard  Gen.  Grant  as  Clermont’s 
most  distinguished  son.  We  are  very  proud  of  him.  We  say  he  is  the  greatest  man  of 
the  age.  We  think  Grant  too  wise  to  accept  a  nomination  at  Chicago  for  a  third  term, 
when  defeat  is  certain.  This  “  boom  ”  may  prove  to  be  a  boomerang  and  return  to  injure 
the  boomers.  I  will  say  that  if  you  should  take  the  Republicans  of  this  county  you  would 
not  find  five  per  cent,  of  the  party  favorable  to  a  third-term  candidate.  I  don’t  think  that 
there  is  more  than  five  per  cent,  of  the  Democrats  in  this  county  who  would  favor  the 
nomination  of  Mr.  Tilden.  The  partisan  mills  are  grinding  away  for  Grant  and  Tilden, 
and  things  look  ominous  to  us,  the  common  citizens,  for  the  nomination  of  Gen.  Grant 
at  Chicago  and  Samuel  Tilden  at  Cincinnati.  I  should  like  to  come  to  your  convention, 
but  business  will  most  likely  keep  me  away. 

I  have  been  a  Republican  since  the  organization  of  the  party,  and  I  do  not  wish  to 
see  the  party  have  a  Waterloo  defeat,  such  as  we  surely  will  have  if  we  undertake  to  carry 
this  third-term  nonsense. 

We  have  thousands  of  good  men  for  the  office,  and  should  not  be  compelled  to  vote 
for  Gen.  Grant  because  the  political  bummers  force  the  measure.  I  hope  wise  counsels 
will  prevail,  etc.  Yours  truly,  J.  M.  Goodwin. 

THE  EFFECTS  APPARENT. 

Boston,  April  17,  1880. 

F.  T.  Ledergerber,  Esq. : 

My  Dear  Sir — Tlie  published  call  which  accompanies  your  invitation  is  in  accordance 
with  the  views  of  three-fourths,  at  least,  of  the  Republicans  in  Massachusetts.  Those 
who  head  the  Grant  movement  here  have  lost  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the  people. 
Most  of  them  have  held  office  under  Grant,  and  every  one  of  them  expects  to  gain  some 
personal  advantage  by  Grant’s  re-election.  Already  the  good  effects  of  your  protest 
against  the  movement  are  beginning  to  be  seen  in  the  passage  of  condemnatory  resolutions 
in  the  local  caucuses  all  over  the  country.  If  the  delegates  to  Chicago  were  not  to  be 
elected  until  September,  I  doubt  if  Grant  would  get  a  single  one  of  the  leading  Republican 
states.  Very  truly  yours, 

Jas.  M.  Bugbee. 

ON  WHAT  SUCCESS  DEPENDS. 

Cambridge,  Mass.,  April  28,  1880. 

Fred.  T.  Ledergerber,  Secretary: 

Dear  Sir — I  am  heartily  in  sympathy  with  the  object  of  the  convention.  I  trust  that 
the  deliberations  of  the  convention  will  result  in  resolutions  of  no  uncertain  sound,  and 
in  action  that  shall  prevent  the  nomination  of  Gen.  Grant  at  Chicago,  by  proving  that  his 
nomination  would  be  likely  to  lead  to  the  defeat  of  the  Republican  party  in  November. 

The  very  large  body  of  Republicans  who  are  opposed  to  Gen.  Grant’s  nomination  upon 
principles  which  will  not  allow  them  to  vote  for  him  if  nominated,  cannot  be  safely  counted 
out  of  the  party.  *  *  * 

The  Independents  will  hold  the  balance  of  power,  and  the  success  of  the  Republican 
party  in  November  is  dependent  011  the  selection  of  a  candidate  at  Chicago  for  whom  they 
will  be  ready  to  labor  and  to  vote . 

Trusting  that  the  best  results  may  follow  from  the  action  of  your  convention, 

I  am  with  high  respect,  very  truly  yours, 

Charles  Eliot  Norton. 

Wilmington,  Del.,  May  6,  1S80. 
To  Chairman  National  Republican  Convention,  St.  Louis: 

Patriotic  devotion  to  great  principles  disregarding  ephemeral  issues  will,  I  believe, 
command  approval  of  twenty  thousand  New  York  Republicans. 

Henry  Randall  Waite. 


A  NEW  ISSUE. 


Burlington,  Iowa,  April  2tf,  1880. 

Mr.  E.  T.  Lederoerber,  Secretary  Committee  of  Convention,  St.  Louis,  Mo. : 

Dear  Sir — The  putting  forward  as  a  candidate  for  President  of  the  United  States  of  one 
who  has  filled  that  office  for  two  terms  creates  a  new  issue,  and  must  embarrass  and 
weaken,  and  perchance  utterly  disintegrate,  the  Republican  party  organization.  Does  it 
mark  a  political  degeneracy  in  the  Republican  ranks? 

1  trust  your  efforts,  and  those  of  other  citizens,  to  resist  it  will  be  vigorous,  determined 
and  successful.  Should  the  convention  at  Chicago  be  betrayed  into  such  a  step,  it  must 
lead  to  new  political  combinations  that  will  be  directed,  I  think,  by  wisdom,  ability  and 
virtue  that  will  provide  new  guards  for  our  future  security  and  respect  the  old  landmarks 
of  American  society.  Your  obedient  servant, 

Wm.  Slater. 

COL.  SAMUEL  M.  QUINCY,  BOSTON. 

1 6  Court  Street,  t 
Boston,  April  28,  1880.  ) 

H  enry  Hitchcock,  Esq.,  Chairman  Anti-Third-Term  Committee: 

Dear  Sir — I  share  to  the  fullest  extent  the  convictions  and  sympathize  in  the  pur¬ 
poses,  as  I  understand  them,  of  those  by  whom  the  convention  has  been  called. 

Six  years  of  army  service,  embracing  the  whole  of  the  late  war,  have  left  in  my  mind 
the  profoundest  admiration  for  Gen.  Grant  as  a  military  leader,  and  were  I  called  on  once 
more  to  follow  the  drum  in  my  country’s  cause  there  is  certainly  no  living  captain  upon 
the  planet  to  whom  I  should  look  up  with  more  absolute  confidence.  Moreover,  none 
will  admit  more  willingly  than  I  that  by  the  Republican  dignity,  simplicity  and  modesty 
of  his  demeanor,  under  a  shower  of  European  honors,  our  ex-president  has  added  new 
lustre  to  the  character  of  the  American  citizen.  For  all  that,  I  should  regard  his  nomi¬ 
nation  for  a  third  term  by  the  Chicago  convention,  as  one  of  the  most  fatal  steps  which 
could  be  taken,  whether  viewed  from  the  narrow  stand-point  of  party  success  or  in  the 
broad  and  paramount  interests  of  our  country  and  form  of  government. 

It  is  the  fact — lamentable  enough,  but  it  is  the  fact  that  to  the  corrupt  methods  and 
practices,  to  the  peculiarly  objectionable  regime  generally  of  a  knot  of  politicians  surround¬ 
ing  and  in  power  under  our  last  president,  there  has  been  applied  the  name  of  “Grantism.” 
And  this  label  will  not  wash  off,  however  we  may  scrub.  It  may  well  be  that  the  great 
man  ought  not  to  be  held  accountable  for  a  tithe  even  of  thf*  evil  which  has  been  thus 
unfortunately  stamped  with  his  image  and  superscription,  but  the  fact  remains  that  it  is 
so  stamped— a  fact  which  must  throw  the  party  who  shall  select  this  candidate  into  the 
weakest  possible  attitude  in  which  to  open  a  campaign — that  of  exculpation  and  defence. 

The  senseless  cry  for  a  “strong  man,”  i.  e .,  a  candidate  who,  if  elected,  may  be 
relied  on  to  assume  the  reins  of  government,  peaceably  if  he  can,  but  forcibly  if  he  must, 
strikes  me  as  the  most  utter  piece  of  self-stultification  ever  indulged  in  by  pretended 
believers  in  our  people’s  capacity  for  self-government.  It  is  not  so  very  long  since  a  knot 
of  conspirators  surrounding  the  president  of  a  European  republic  thus  decided  upon  the 
necessity  of  a  strong  man  to  save  the  nation — and  the  next  day  the  Paris  boulevards  ran 
blood,  and  the  adventurer  waded  through  slaughter  to  a  throne.  Now,  although  we  know 
Gen.  Grant  to  be  just  as  incapable  of  attempting  to  play  such  a  role  as  was  George 
Washington,  yet  such  is  the  logical  denouement  at  which  we  shall  sooner  or  later  arrive, 
if  we  now  begin  by  admitting  that  we  must  elect  a  fighter  in  order  to  inaugurate  him. 

And  whenever  this  despairing  cry  for  a  strong  man  shall  have  echoed  across  the 
Atlantic  what  music  will  it  not  be  to  the  ears  of  those  who,  at  the  breaking  out  of  the 
rebellion,  made  such  exultant  haste  to  announce  that  “  the  bubble  of  the  great  republic 
has  burst.”  The  long  predicted,  hoped  and  prayed  for  collapse  of  that  people’s  govern¬ 
ment  whose  success  shakes  every  throne  will  be  hailed  as  imminent.  In  the  name  of 
whatever  republican  manliness  we  ought  to  have  inherited  from  our  ancestors,  let  us  not 
give  this  aid  and  comfort  to  our  enemies.  Rather  let  us  show  the  world  our  firm  con¬ 
viction  and  our  perfect  confidence  that  the  government  established  by  our  fathers — the 
government  of  the  people,  by  the  people  find  for  the  people,  may  yet  be  trusted  to  stand 
alone  without  the  assistance  of  third  terms,  “  strong  men,”  standing  armies  or  bayonets. 

Respectfully,  vour  obedient  servant, 

Samuel  M.  Quincy, 

Late  Colonel  U.  S.  Colored  Troops  and  B.  B.  G.  Vols. 


25 


FROM  MAJOR  GEORGE  B.  HALSTED,  OF  MINNESOTA. 

Excelsior,  Minn.,  April  23,  1880. 

Emory  S.  Foster,  Esq.  : 

You  are  at  liberty  to  use  my  name  in  any  way  you  may  think  advisable  or  beneficial  for  the 
patriotic  object  you  have  in  view  —  defeating  the  third-termer,  Grant. 

I  was  in  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul  recently,  and  was  much  gratified  at  finding  many  Repub¬ 
licans  in  sympathy  with  your  movements.  The  claim  is  made  often  that  Grant  has  all  his  old 
soldiers  with  him.  This  is  not  true  in  fact.  I  want  to  be  present  at  our  county  convention, 
which  may  prevent  my  being  at  St.  Louis. 

If  I  am  not  on  hand  I  shall  be  glad  to  be  represented  by  any  gentleman  agreeing  with  us, 
whom  you  may  select.  Respectfully, 

George  B.  IIalsted. 


Owensburg,  Ky.,  April  22,  1880. 

Emory  S.  Foster,  Esq.,  Secretary  N.  R.  Anti-Third-Term,  etc.,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Dear  Sir  :  —  Permit  me  to  say  that  I  am  most  heartily  in  accord  with  the  objects  of  your 
association,  and  have  done,  and  shall  continue  to  do,  all  in  my  power  to  prevent  the  nomination 
of  any  man  for  a  third  time  for  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States.  The  opposition  to  the 
Third-Term  movement  in  this  State,  although  not  so  strong  nor  so  well  organized  as  it  might 
have  been,  was  not  altogether  in  vain.  *  *  *  The  feeling  here  against  a  third  term  is  very 

strong,  and,  in  case  of  Grant’s  nomination,  will  tend  to  paralyze  the  Republican  party  in 
Kentucky.  I  can  not  tell  how  many  will  attend  your  Convention  from  this  State,  but  trust  that 
it  will  be  well  represented.  Trusting  that  the  country  will  be  spared  another  term  of  fraud 
and  favoritism,  as  was  Grant’s  second  term,  I  am, 

Most  truly  yours, 


J.  W.  Feighan. 


FROM  ETHAN  ALLEN. 

New  Ytork,  April  30. 

Hon.  J.  B.  Henderson: 

Dear  Sir  —  My  early  departure  for  Europe  will  prevent  me  from  attending  your  convention 
next  week  to  oppose  the  wickedness  of  Grantism.  I  am  with  you  heart  and  head,  and  expect  to 
return  from  Europe  in  August  to  publicly  oppose  Grant’s  election  if,  unfortunately,  our  party 
must  submit  to  the  curse  of  his  nomination,  which  God  forbid!  I  strongly  urge  a  resolution, 
not  only  against  a  nomination  for  a  third  term,  but  that  we  will  oppose  his  election.  There  can 
be  no  principle  in  the  matter  short  of  resisting  his  election.  Let  the  key-note  be  opposition  to 
Grant  and  support  of  any  other  man  named  at  Chicago.  Believe  me, 

Yours  truly,  Ethan  Allen. 


New  York,  May  3,  1880. 

IIon.  J.  B.  Henderson,  Convention  of  National  Republicans : 

My  Dear  Sir  —  I  very  much  regret  that  I  have  not  been  able  to  join  3-ou  and  our  other 
friends  at  St.  Louis,  in  their  efforts  to  scotch  and  kill  the  political  heresy  of  a  third-term,  which 
is  the  latest  treason  against  our  common  country.  I  am  very  glad  in  the  reflection  that  I  was  of 
those  who,  eight  years  ago,  under  the  name  of  “Liberal  Republicans,”  inaugurated  the  opposi¬ 
tion  to  that  man  who,  through  his  friends,  and  as  I  believe  by  his  own  personal  manipulations, 
now  seeks  for  the  third  time  to  be  President  of  the  United  States;  an  act  which  Washington 
condemned  by  his  example,  which  Jefferson  denounced  by  special  reference,  and  of  which 
Andrew  Jackson  would  have  said  “By  the  Eternal,  the  man  who  dares  to  propose  such  an  in¬ 
sult  to  me,  deserves  to  be  hung  as  an  accursed  traitor.”  Fortunately  for  the  people,  the 
schemes  of  the  conspirators,  in  this  first  step  towards  Empire,  are  well  understood,  and  can  be 
thwarted  by  bold  and  honest  opposition.  Three  men,  one  in  each  of  the  great  States  of  New 
YY>rk,  Pennsylvania,  and  Illinois,  placed  in  power  by  Grant,  through  the  agency  of  public 
patronage,  before  he  retired  from  the  presidency,  and  undisturbed  since  in  their  possessions  bjr 
Grant’s  successor,  propose  to  dictate  to  the  Republican  party.  The  issue  is  thus  at  once  clearlv 
presented  and  sharply  defined.  Can  such  a  triumvirate  conquer?  If  so,  then  the  glories  of  this 
great  Republic  have  culminated,  and  the  end  is  not  far  off.  We  are  fighting  desperate  men,  and 
if  we  win  at  all,  it  can  only  be  by  the  boldest  methods.  We  can  not  afford  to  speak  with  bated 
breath,  nor  scheme  in  the  dark  with  any  indirection,  in  the  vain  hope  that  the  common  enemy 
will  be  turned  from  his  purpose  by  the  force  of  moral  suasion.  If  on  principle  we  are  honestly 
opposed  to  a  third,  term ,  then  we  are  opposed  to  the  election  as  well  as  the  nomination.  I  have 


26 


j 


but  little  faith  in  those  “clubs”  and  “organizations  ”  that  stop  at  a  declaration  against  a  third 
term.  The  only  opposition  that  “bites  ”  is  that  which  refuses  a  vote  to  Grant  even  if  named  at 
Chicago.  I  fail  to  understand  the  logic  of  those  who  say  that  it  is  wrong  to  nominate  Grant, 
and  yet  that  it  is  right  to  elect  him  if  nominated.  If,  on  principle,  we  are  opposed  to  a  third 
term,  then  it  is  the  election  which  of  necessity  we  must  resist  as  being  the  “  substance  ”  of  the 
controversy.  Those  so-called  “Independent  Republicans  ”  are  but  “sham  reformers,”  who, 
proclaiming  loudly  their  opposition  to  Grant,  yet  lay  upon  the  table  all  resolutions  formulating 
their  professions.  As  for  myself,  I  never  yet  have  voted  a  Democratic  ticket,  nor  would  I  now 
vote  for  Tilden,  but  would  rather  note  vote  at  all,  if  he  or  Grant  be  the  only  alternatives ;  but 
if  Grant  be  forced  upon  the  Republican  party  (and  failing  to  nominate  a  third  ticket,  for  which 
I  should  strive),  and  assuming  that  the  democracy  nominate  any  respectable  citizen  other  than 
Tilden,  I  shall  deem  it  to  be  my  duty  to  prefer  country  to  party,  and  avoid  the  greater  evil  of  a 
third  term  by  openly  supporting  the  Democratic  nominee.  If  your  convention  will  boldly  place 
itself  upon  this  ground,  there  will  be  no  misunderstanding  your  position  and  intentions,  after 
you  shall  have  dispersed  to  your  homes ;  and  such  decisive  utterance  will  carry  consternation 
to  the  camp  of  the  enemy  and  surely  work  his  defeat. 

Apart  from  the  political  crime  of  placing  any  man  for  a  third  time  in  the  Presidential 
chair,  Grant  upon  his  own-merits  should  be  cast  out,  as  unworthy  of  the  place.  The  deficiencies 
of  his  former  administrations  can  not  be  concealed.  Have  we  forgotten  that  it  was  under  Grant 
that  the  “Kuklux  ”  murders  were  inaugurated  in  the  South?  It  was  under  him  that  the  Repub¬ 
licans  lost  nearly  eveiy  State  in  the  Union;  it  was  he  who  left  Washington  City,  with  the  de¬ 
mocracy  controlling  Congress,  for  the  first  time  in  twenty  years;  it  was  under  him  that  we  had 
the  “  whisky  ”  rings,  the  “  Shepard’,  rings,  and  the  “  Belknap,”  and  “Babcock,”  and  “Robe¬ 
son”  scandals,  and  other  infamies  too  numerous  to  mention.  Have  we  forgotten  how  every 
association  of  honorable  men  throughout  the  nation  felt  bound  to  demand  a  reform  of  the 
abuses  of  Grant’s  administration?  The  “  Union  League  Club  ”  of  this  city,  during  the  cam¬ 
paign  of  1876,  declared  in  a  printed  report  which  is  now  before  me,  that  it  favored  (as  a  suc¬ 
cessor  to  Gen.  Grant),  “For  a  presidential  candidate,  one  who  has  no  connection,  direct  or 
indirect,  with  the  errors  and  abuses  which  have  brought  reproach  upon  the  country  and  the 
dominant  party.”  One  could  quote  volumes  such  as  this  from  every  State,  and  of  this  date. 
Have  we  forgotten  that  Grant’s  administration  was  so  full  of  blackness,  that  it  served  as  a  back¬ 
ground,  to  show  forth  a  presidential  candidate,  whose  chief  merit  was  that  he  had  boldly  fought 
its  accumulated  iniquities?  Mr.  Benjamin  H.  Bristow  was  brought  up  almostto  the  presidential 
line  (and  would  to  God  that  he  had  crossed  it),  mainly  because  he  stood  out  as  the  most  prom¬ 
inent  among  tho&e  who  had  attempted  to  repress,  redress,  and  reform  the  foulness  of  Grant’ s 
last  term  in  office.  Now  we  may  well  ask,  what  virtue  has  so  suddenly  come  into  Grant,  that 
he  should  be  returned  to  resume  the  work  in  which  he  so  conspicuously  failed,  and  from  which 
he  retired  four  years  ago  to  the  great  relief  of  all  patriotic  citizens? 

There  are  many  giants  from  whom  the  Republican  party  can  choose  a  leader,  whose  nomina¬ 
tion  will  be  of  itself  the  assurance  of  victory.  *  *  * 

I  have  the  honor  to  remain,  yours  very  truly, 


Ethan  Allen. 


Boston,  April  11,  1880. 

My  Dear  Gen.  Henderson — ‘I  received  the  copy  of  the  Republican  containing  your  anti- 
third-term  speech,  every  word  of  which  I  read,  and  every  word  of  which  I  approve.  I  have 
been  watching  your  course  with  great  interest,  and  I  write  now  not  onty  to  thank  you  for  your 
speech,  but  to  wish  your  convention  entire  success.  *  *  * 

Sincere^  and  faithfully  yours, 

J.  H.  Wilson. 


FROM  THE  STATE  TREASURER  OF  WISCONSIN. 

Madison,  Wisconsin,  April  22,  1880. 

Emory  S.  Foster,  Esq.,  St.  Louis  : 

Dear  Sir  —  The  Grant  movement  is  daily  losing  ground  in  Wisconsin.  Even  many  who 
heretofore  were  strongly  for  Grant,  admit  now  that  it  would  be  bad  policy  for  the  future  success 
of  the  Rebublican  party  to  force  Grant  on  the  convention  at  Chicago.  *  *  *  The  majority 
of  Wisconsin  Republicans  are  opposed  to  Grant. 

Respectfully  Yours, 

Richard  Guenther. 


27 


Fairmont,  West  Virginia,  May  3,  1880. 

Dear  Sir  —  I  wish  I  could  be  witli  you  on  the  6th  instant  at  St.  Louis,  to  join  my  fellow- 
citizens  in  their  protest  against  the  nomination  of  a  candidate  for  the  third  term,  for  President 
of  the  United  States,  at  the  approaching  election.  The  call  for  this  anti-third-term  convention 
is  opportune  and  significant.  It  is  not  only  a  protest  against  Gen.  Grant’s  candidacy,  but  it  i3 
a  firm  step  to  strengthen  our  tenure  of  liberty  and  free  institutions.  He  is  a  deluded  citizen 
who  entertains  the  idea  that  there  are  no  persons  in  the  United  States  who  long  for  empire.  In 
1868  I  assisted  to  elect  Gen.  Grant  President  of  the  United  States.  I  had  great  doubts  of  his 
fitness  at  the  time.  The  mistake  was  soon  apparent.  Rings,  nepotism,  self-aggrandizement, 
and  intolerance  so  characterized  his  first  term,  that  I  resolved  not  to  support  him  for  a  second. 
The  country  saw  with  shame  the  ring  of  Leet  &  Co.  around  the  bonded  warehouses  of  New 
York.  Contributions  were  there  levied  for  the  benefit  of  private  secretaries  of  the  President, 
Indian  rings,  proscriptiom_of  Sumner  and  others.  I  cannot  go  into  detail.  These  acts  are 
fresh  in  the  minds  of  tne  people.  Even  Gen.  Grant  was  so  sensible  of  his  errors,  that  in  his  ac¬ 
ceptance  of  the  nomination  for  the  second  term,  he  promised  to  do  better.  But  his  second 
term  went  from  bad  to  worse,  until  the  country  was  confronted  with  the  fact  that  it  was  being 
robbed  of  its  revenues  by  his  appointees.  Public  opinion  demanded  the  prosecution  of  the 
offenders.  A  number  of  them  were  convicted  in  St.  Louis,  and  sent  to  the  penitentiary,  but  I 
believe  Grant  pardoned  all  of  them  before  his  term  expired. 

Gen.  Grant’s  lust  for  lucre,  as  seen  by  accepting  all  the  gifts  presented  to  him,  and  bestowing 
his  highest  appointments  on  the  men  who  gave  to  him  most  liberally,  had  more  to  do  with  cor¬ 
rupting  officials  than  any  thing  that  has  ever  occured  in  this  country.  From  the  watchman  to  the 
secretary,  they  reasoned :  “  If  the  President,  who  has  a  princely  salary,  can  receive  presents 

and  bestow  high  appointments,  why  may  I  not  take  gain  from  whomsoever  I  can  obtain  it  ?  ” 
Thus,  by  example,  moral  restraint  was  broken  down.  In  fact,  his  second  term  so  far  surpassed 
the  first  in  offensive  acts  and  reckless  disregard  of  public  sentiment,  that  when  the  people  saw 
that  he  was  using  all  of  his  vast  patronage  to  force  his  election  for  a  third  term,  the  great  Re¬ 
publican  party  discussed  the  propriety  of  a  third  term  as  a  principle.  The  opinion  of  the 
fathers,  as  found  in  the  debates  in  the  United  States  constitutional  convention,  were  laid  before 
the  people.  The  example  of  patriot  presidents,  with  their  reasons  therefor,  was  pointed  out. 
So  deep  and  abiding  was  the  anti-thira-term  principle  impressed  upon  the  minds  of  the  people, 
that  public  sentiment  demanded  that  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  should,  and  it  did,  in 
1875  pass  a  resolution,  with  singular  unanimity,  declaring  against  a  President  being  a  candidate 
for  a  third  term.  Republican  conventions  in  a  number  of  the  Republican  States,  knowing  the 
sentiments  of  the  people,  passed  similar  resolutions,  all  concurring  in  the  fact  that  the  anti- 
third-term  principle  is  a  part  of  the  unwi’itten  law  of  the  land,  is  one  of  the  safeguards  of  lib¬ 
erty,  and  is  as  binding  as  the  constitution  itself. 

In  1875,  this  third-term  principle  was  better  understood  by  the  people  than  ever  before.  It 
is  only  emergencies  which  bring  up  great  subjects  for  discussion  in  this  country.  Grant’s  ad¬ 
ministrations,  with  his  desire  for  a  third  term,  brought  on  this  discussion ;  but.the  reasoning 
soon  passed  from  the  individual  to  the  great  principle.  The  press,  orators,  *  statesmen,  arid 
essayists  threw  such  a  flood  of  light  upon  the  subject,  that  the  candidacy  of  a  man  for  the 
third  term,  for  the  presidency,  was  condemned  not  for  1876  alone,  but  for  all  time  to  come. 
But  now,  in  four  short  years,  the  great  Republican  party  is  insulted  by’the  declaration  in  effect, 
that  this  great  discussion  was  only  a  political  trick;  that  the  Congress,  and  the  Republican 
Conventions  that  passed  these  resolutions,  only  intended  to  deceive  or  amuse  the  people  for  a 
season  — that  they’meant  nothing ! 

At  the  end  of  Gen.  Grant’s  second  term,  he  had  his  trainers,  as  well  as  his  retainers,  who  had 
fattened  on  his  bounty.  They  had  carefully  read  the  history  of  Csesar;  how  he  had  procured 
his  first  and  second  pro-consulship ;  how  he  had  amused  and  built  up  his  popularity  among  the 
populace  of  Rome,  by  his  frequent  dispatches,  detailing  his  victories  over  the  semi-savages  in 
Gaul  and  Britain,  and  how  he  had  prepared  the  people  of  Rome  to  receive  him  as  a  god. 
All  knew  the  sequel.  *  *  *  From  Gen.  Grant,  as  a  soldier  and  citizen,  I  do  not  desire  to 

take  one  laurel  that  he  justly  deserves;  lam  discussing  him  as  a  third-term  candidate,  and 
unfit  to  be  President  of  the  United  States.  If  the  people  composing  the  great  Republican 
party  are  so  blind  as  to  foster  military  heroes  for  their  chief  magistrate;  if  they  have  so  little 
appreciation  of  the  teachings  of  history,  as  not  to  understand  the  dangers  to  the  republic  of  a 
third  term;  if  they  have  no  more  convictions  than  to  place  themselves  in  the  hands  of  selfish 
politicians,  regardless  of  their  better  judgment,  they  are  not  fit  custodians  of  the  precious  liber¬ 
ties  of  the  American  people,  and  the  sooner  the  country  understands  this  the  better. 

But  I  have  an  abiding  faith  in  the  patriotism  of  the  great  body  of  the  Republican  party.  As 
a  party,  I  think  its  principles,  aims,  and  aspirations  are  far  above  any  other  party  in  the 


28 


United  States.  My  brightest  hopes  for  the  future  of  my  country,  cluster  around  the  prospect 
of  its  success.  President  Ha}res,  though  environed  by  troubles,  brought  about  by  Grant’s  blun¬ 
ders,  b3r  a  Democratic  House  all  the  time,  and  a  Senate  against  him,  part  of  the  time,  has 
yet  made  a  creditable  administration,  one  that  history  will  honor. 

I  hope  to  see  a  statesman  nominated  at  Chicago,  and  if  such  is  the  case,  he  will  surely  be 
elected.  It  will  be  utterly  out  of  the  question  to  elect  Gen.  Grant,  if  he  is  nominated.  1  be¬ 
lieve  that  if  he  is  the  nominee,  tens  of  thousands  of  Republicans  will  refuse  to  go  to  the  polls, 
rather  than  stultify  themselves  by  voting  for  him ;  and  wiry  should  thejr  not? 

I  am  looking  for  good  results  from  }mur  anti-third-term  convention.  I  hope  it  will  adopt 
wise  measures  and  speak  in  language  not  to  be  misunderstood.  “Eternal  vigilance  is  the 
price  of  liberty,”  is  a  truism;  and  is  as  true  to-day  as  at  any  time  in  the  ages  when  tyrants 
made  slaves  of  the  people. 

Except  in  Republican  France,  Csesarism  is  lightening  its  grasp  all  over  Europe,  England  not 
excepted.  Keep  the  watch  tires  of  liberty  brightly  burning ! 

I  am,  truly  yours, 

F.  H.  PlERPONT. 


FROM  THE  CHAIRMAN  REPUBLICAN  STATE  COMMITTEE. 

Lancaster,  Ky.,  April  21,  1880. 

Dear  Sir  —  lam  opposed  to  the  nomination  of  Gen.  Grant,  and  bitterly  opposed  to  the 
third-term  principle ;  or  I  might  more  properly  say,  want  of  principle.  It  would  be  unneces¬ 
sary  here  to  give  the  reasons  for  the  faith  within  me.  *  *  *  Hoping  that  your  convention 

may  do  something  which  will  prevent  the  nomination  of  Gen.  Grant,  and  save  the  party  from 
disgrace  and  defeat,  I  am,  Very  respectfully, 

Geo.  Denny,  Jr. 

FROM  GEN.  A.  C.  McCLURG,  ADJUTANT-GENERAL  OF  ONE  OF  SHERMAN’S 

ARMY  CORPS  IN  THE  MARCH  TO  THE  SEA. 


Chicago,  Ma}’-  3,  1880. 

Henry  Hitchcock: 

My  Dear  Sir  —  If  you  can  prevent  the  nomination  of  Grant,  *  *  *  I  shall  be  heartily 
rejoiced ;  and  I  know  of  scores  of  other  good  men  of  this  ilk  possessed  of  the  same  feelings. 
Don’t  hesitate  to  go  to  any7-  length,  and  I  think  you  will  be  well  backed. 

Faithfully  yours,  A.  C.  McClurg. 

Fredericktown,  Mo.,  April  23,  1880. 

Col.  Emory  S.  Foster. 

My  Dear  Foster — I  shall  go  up  to  the  Convention.  I  enthusiastically  endorse  what  you  and 
all  our  friends  have  done  to  sound  the  alarm  against  the  third  term,  and  to  prepare  the  county 
for  its  defeat,  either  in  or  after  the  Chicago  Convention.  We  can  not,  and  must  not  stultify 
ourselves  by  voting  in  favor  of  such  a  solecism  as  is  this  third  term,  and  especially  to  place 
Grant  back  to  repeat  the  follies  and  crimes  of  his  last  administration.  You  may  reliantly 
expect  me  to  do  all  in  my  power  to  make  the  Convention  successful.  Put  me  where  I  will  do  the 
most  good.  Sincerely  Yours, 

B.  B.  Cahoon. 


Detroit,  Mich.,  April  12,  1880. 

Emory  S.  Foster,  Esq.  : 

Dear  Sir — I  have  read  with  much  interest  and  pleasure  of  the  movement  against  a  third  term, 
and  write  this  for  the  purpose  of  offering  my  services  in  the  cause ;  as  yet  no  action  has 
been  taken  here  to  any  purpose.  Michigan  is  most  decidedly  anti-Grant.  There  are  2,000 
good  strong  Republicans  in  this  city  who  will  never  vote  for  Grant,  and  many  thousands  more 
who  would  personally  prefer  defeat  to  the  party  than  have  Grant  President. 

Any  suggestions  you  may  make  will  be  gladly  received,  and  I  trust  the  convention,  May  6th, 
may  have  a  good  delegation  from  this  State.  The  enclosed  expresses  my  views  of  Grant. 

Yery  truly, 

John  B.  Corliss. 


Mt.  Morris,  Ills.,  April  15,  1880. 

Gen.  Henderson: 

Dear  Sir  —  T  take  the  liberty  to  write  you  this  letter,  that  you  may  know  the  feeling  in 
this  section  in  regard  to  the  presidential  question.  There  is  a  deep-seated  hostility  here  among 


29 


a  large  number  of  good  Republicans  about  a  third  term.  I  find  numbers  of  men  here  who  say 
they  will  not  vote  for  Grant  again.  I  know  these  persons  to  be  in  earnest,  and  I  feel  myself, 
that  to  elect  him  once  more  would  bode  no  good  to  him,  to  the  party,  nor  to  the  best  interests 
of  the  country.  I  would  suggest  to  you,  that  you  be  not  timid  or  wavering  in  your  action  at 
St.  Louis.  Let  the  Grant  office-brokers  understand  that  you  mean  business.  They  will  scout 
at  you,  but  if  they  find  we  are  in  earnest,  they  will  heed  your  remonstrance.  A  few  documents, 
such  as  your  own  speech,  Weed’s  and  Wolsey’s  letters,  are  opening  the  eyes  of  people. 

Excuse  me  for  this  brief  letter,  but  I  am  in  earnest. 

Very  respectfully, 

J.  Hiestand. 

Auburn,  N.  Y.,  April  10,  1880. 

Emory  S.  Foster,  Esq.,  Secretary,  etc.  : 

Dear  Sir  —  All  the  Republicans  in  this  county  except  the  machine  men,  —  and  their  num- 
is  not  large, — are  opposed  to  a  third  term.  I  suggest  the  following  names :  *  *  *  Mr. 
Knapp  is  one  of  the  proprietors  of  The  Auburn  Daily  Advertiser ,  published  here,  and  which  is 
anti-third-term.  Yours  truly, 

F.  D.  Wright. 

Minneapolis,  Minn.,  April  15,  1880. 

Emory  S.  Foster,  Secretary,  etc.  : 

Dear  Sir  —  The  feeling  in  this  State  I  judge  to  be  strong  anti-third-term,  and  in  Excelsior, 
where  the  matter  has  been  talked  up  considerably,  I  have  heard  of  but  three  (3)  persons  ex¬ 
press  for  Grant. 

With  me,  although  I  am  firm  and  sincere  in  my  republicanism,  I  am  free  to  confess  I  should 
cast  no  vote  for  U.  S.  Grant.  Yery  respectfully, 

Frank  H.  Shepard, 

(Late  1st  Lt.  24th  Mass.  Yols),  Excelsior  Minn. 

Louisville,  Ky.,  May  3,  1880. 

Henry  Hitchcock,  Esq.  : 

Dear  Sir — I  am  heart  and  soul  with  you  in  the  cause.  I  suppose  that  Kentucky  will  lend 
her  aid  in  the  movement,  and  prove  to  the  world  that  we  are  not  all  for  a  third  term.  True,  our 
County  Convention  and  State  Convention  were  manipulated  by  wire  workers  in  the  interest  of 
machine  men,  but  our  delegation,  I  am  happy  to  say,  will  not  be  so  solid  asut  has  been  repre¬ 
sented  to  be.  In  future,  if  you  will  send  to  Z.  0.  King,  on  the  Evening  Post ,  a  strong  “anti” 
man,  any  documents,  he  will  notice  them  and  be  able  to  give  you  valuable  information.  Wish¬ 
ing  you  a  harmonious  and  fruitful  meeting,  I  am 

Respectfully, 

C.  P.  Will. 

Macon,  Mo.,  April  24,  1880. 

Hon.  John  B.  Henderson,  St.  Louis,  Mo. : 

Dear  Sir — The  people  of  the  United  States  have  thus  far,  in  their  career  as  a  nation,  been 
honorably  and  patriotically  equal  to  every  emergency,  and  I  have  implicit  trust  that  they  will 
be  true  to  themselves  in  this  one.  While  Gen.  Grant  represents  the  loyal  sentiment  of  the 
nation,  he  also  represents  personalism,  low  partisanism,  and  ignoble  selfishness,  in  American 
politics.  In  the  former  character  lies  his  strength  among  the  masses.  In  the  latter,  he  rallies 
the  corrupt  and  partisan  politicians  of  high  and  low  degree.  In  my  opinion,  the  greatest 
danger  now  threatening  our  institutions  is  the  “spoils  system  of  politics,”  and  of  this  Gen. 
Grant  is  the  very  embodiment.  Amid  reproach  and  contumely,  it  is  necessary  for  those  who 
would  see  American  freedom  perpetuated  in  its  purity,  to  present  an  unbroken  opposition  to 
the  one-man  power  which  now  threatens  our  country.  Better  a  Democratic  triumph,  than  a 
triumph  of  “  Grantism.”  Respectful^, 

Wm.  P.  Beach. 

Lansing,  Mich.,  April  26,  1880. 

Emory  S.  Foster,  Secretary. 

Dear  Sir — Enclosed  please  find  another  list  of  anti-Grant-to-the-backbone  Republicans. 
The  Evening  News,  of  Detroit,  with  a  daily  circulation  of  24,500,  is  strongly  anti-Grant,  and  is 
doing  good  service.  Yery  respectfully, 


Emil  Fecht. 


30 


New  Haven,  Conn.,  April  17,  1880. 

Henry  Hitchcock,  Esq.,  Chairman : 

Dear  Sir  :  —  I  have  been  a  Republican  ever  since  I  have  been  a  voter,  but  shall  not  vote  for 
Gen  .  Grant  if  he  is  nominated.  The  tendency  for  the  past  five  years  has  been  away  from 
the  principles  on  which  the  Government  was  founded,  and  I  believe  it  is  time  for  us  to  call  a 
halt  before  going  any  further  on  the  road  which  we  have  been  travelling.  The  third-term 
movement  does  such  violence  to  the  history  and  traditions  of  the  country,  that  I  would  in  no 
case  give  my  vote  for  a  third  term,  believing  that  any  one  who  would  accept  a  nomination  for 
a  third  term  deserves  to  be  distrusted,  if  not  feared.  I  can  not  conceive  of  any  one  who- 
sincerely  desires  the  permanent  welfare  of  the  country  as  accepting  a  nomination  for  a  third 
term;  and  the  mere  fact  that  he  is  willing  to  do  so,  is  sufficient  reason  for  the  conclusion  that 
he  is  not  fit  for  the  place.  Yours  very  truly, 

George  A.  Butler. 


Cincinnati,  0.,  April  21,  1880. 

Emory  S.  Foster,  Esq. : 

Dear  Sir  —  Speaking  for  myself,  lam  free  to  confess  my  hearty  sympathy  with  the  anti- 
third-term  movement.  I  yield  to  no  one  in  my  admiration  of  Gen.  Grant  as  a  man  of  unques¬ 
tioned  integrity,  and  as  a  military  leader  whose  achievements  on  the  field  of  battle  will  forever 
entitle  him  to  the  profound  gratitude  of  every  sincere  patriot  and  lover  of  human  liberty.  But 
notwithstanding  all  this,  I  find  myself  constrained  to  oppose  his  present  candidacy,  for  the  fol¬ 
lowing  reasons :  — 

In  the  first  place,  almost  every  Republican  State  convention  in  1875  clearly  and  emphatically 
endorsed  that  unwritten  law  which  prohibits  more  than  two  presidential  terms  to  the  same  per¬ 
son,  and  the  nomination  of  Grant  at  Chicago  would  put  the  Republican  party  in  the  awkward 
predicament  of  justifying  a  political  doctrine  in  1880,  which  they  had  express^  condemned  in 
1875. 

Secondly.  The  election  of  Grant  to  a  third  term  —  could  such  a  thing  happen  —  would  be  a 
direct  step  towards  perpetuating  the  government  of  this  country  in  the  hands  of  one  man.  It 
would  unquestionably  be  viewed  by  the  masses  as  a  movement  in  the  direction  of  monarchy. 
Let  the  barriers  which  have  been  raised  by  Washington,  Jefferson,  Madison,  and  others  be 
overthrown,  and  who  can  foretell  the  consequences?  The  history  of  this  nation  has  prescribed 
a  limitation  to  the  number  of  presidential  terms,  and  it  behooves  every  lover  of  democratic  gov¬ 
ernment  to  insist  on  an  adherence  to  that  limitation. 

Thirdly.  Should  Grant  be  the  nominee  at  Chicago,  he  will  be  overwhelmingly  defeated.  Pro¬ 
fessional  politicians  maj7  manipulate  the  party  machinery  to  further  their  own  selfish  and  cor¬ 
rupt  purposes,  by  having  delegations  instructed  to  vote  for  Grant;  but  from  careful  inquiries 
among  mechanics  and  artisans,  who  constitute  the  bulk  of  the  party,  and  who  take  no  stock 
whatevea  in  politics  as  a  profession,  I  am  satisfied  that  such  an  earnest  and  deep-rooted  opposi¬ 
tion  to  a  third  term  exists  in  the  minds  of  the  Republican  masses  —  at  least  in  this  section  of 
the  country  —  as  to  make  Grant’s  defeat  in  Ohio  a  foregone  conclusion. 

Several  other  reasons  suggest  themselves,  but  lack  of  leisure  compels  me  to  forbear.  The 
continuance  of  the  Republican  party  in  power  is  to  my  mind  a  thousand  fold  of  greater  conse¬ 
quence  than  the  personal  aggrandizement  of  any  man,  or  of  any  hundred  men.  The  party  ex¬ 
ists,  not  for  the  purpose  of  elevating  any  individual  to  power,  but  for  the  advocacy  and  estab¬ 
lishment  of  certain  principles  of  government,  which  are  deemed  essential  to  the  cause  of  civil 
liberty  and  of  human  progress.  Hence  the  anxiety  of  the  Republican  masses  to  have  nomi¬ 
nated  at  Chicago  a  man  who  will  lead  them  on  to  victory  beyond  a  peradventure,  and  not  one 
whose  leadership  implies  inevitable  defeat. 

Yours  truly, 


W.  H.  Jones. 


Cincinnati,  April  26,  1880. 

Emory  S.  Foster,  Esq.,  St.  Louis: 

Dear  Sir  —  Since  my  former  letter  to  you,  I  have  become  more  convinced  than  ever,  that 
should  Grant  be  the  Chicago  nominee,  the  Repbublican  party  will  be  doomed  to  utter  defeat 
next  November.  Last  Saturday  evening,  I  acted  as  judge  at  a  primary  election  held  in  Pre¬ 
cinct  A,  Third  Ward  of  this  city.  Scores  of  business  men,  who  had  never  before  been  known 
to  attend  a  primary  election,  presented  themselves  at  the  poles  for  the  avowed  purpose  of 
defeating  any  effort  that  might  be  made  to  elect  Grant  delegates  to  the  State  Convention,  and 
of  the  three  hundred  votes  that  were  cast,  a  large  proportion  of  those  who  casLthem  expressed 
voluntarily,  and  without  any  solicitation  whatever,  their  emphatic  determination  not  to  support 


31 


Grant  incase  he  is  the  nominee.  One  man  only  expressed  a  preference  for  Grant,  whereas 
scores  spontaneously  expressed  their  uncompromising  opposition  to  him. 

Sincerely  yours,  W.  H.  Jones. 

Evansville,  Ind.,  April  17,  1880. 

Emory  S.  Foster,  Esq.,  Secretary,  St.  Louis : 

Dear  Sir  —  I  desire  to  add  my  voice  to  the  endorsement  of  the  movement  in  opposition  to 
Grant. 

1.  As  a  true  Republican,  desiring  the  success  of  our  party,  I  do  not  think  he  can  be  elected. 

2.  After  mature  reflection,  I  can  not  obtain  my  consent  to  vote  for  him. 

I  am  surprised  to  find  the  indignant  feeling  among  Republicans  against  the  Grant  movement. 
A  gentleman  who  has  just  canvassed  the  State  for  a  candidate  for  a  State  office  at  our  coming 
convention,  tells  me  that  nine  out  of  ten  of  all  the  Republicans  of  the  State,  that  he  has  talked 
with,  are  strongly  opposed  to  the  movement.  He  is  reliable.  Grant,  if  nominated,  will  lose 
Indiana,  50,000  votes.  *  *  *  Yours  truly, 

J.  E.  Iglehart. 

Detroit,  March  25,  1880. 

Hon.  John  B.  Henderson,  St.  Louis.  Mo.  : 

Dear  Sir  —  The  movement  begun  in  your  city  in  opposition  to  the  third-term  scheme, 
rejoices  the  hearts  of  thousands  of  Republicans  in  Michigan  to-day.  We  should  be  glad  to  see 
it  defeated  in  convention  for  the  sake  of  the  party ;  but  if  not,  we  will  do  our  patriotic  duty  at 
the  polls,  and  bury  it  so  deep  that  it  will  never  be  resurrected.  We  love  the  Republican  party, 
but  if  it  must  be  sacrificed  to  defeat  this  diabolical  scheme,  let  it  die.  Country  first,  and  party 
afterward,  is  the  motto  of  Michigan  Republicans.  Very  truly,  vours, 

S.  N.  Hurlbut. 

Warrenton,  Mo.,  April  28,  1880. 

Henry  Hitchcock,  Esq.  : 

Dear  Sir — As  a  life-long  Republican,  I  should  certainly  shrink  from  doing  anything  to 
imperil  the  success  of  that  party,  but  I  believe  I  am  less  of  a  partisan  than  a  patriot,  and  the 
situation  is  in  my  estimation  sufficiently  grave  to  justify  the  decision  that  it  is  better  to  abandon 
the  party  than  the  unwritten  law,  which  helps  to  support  our  free  institutions.  Better  to  let 
the  party  perish  than  help  to  merge  it  in  Grantism  and  personal  rule.  I  believe  the  nomination 
of  the  ex-President  means  the  defeat  of  the  Republican  party,  and  I  am  ready,  therefore,  to  do 
whatever  I  can  to  prevent  it.  I  purpose  attending,  and  hope  much  may  be  accomplished. 

Respectfully, 

Hamilton  Moore. 


OFFICE  “  DER  NEW  YORK  REPUBLIKANER,” 

•  ' 

(The  only  German  Republican  paper  published  in  New  York  City.) 

New  York  City,"  April  1,  1880. 

Senator  J.  B.  Henderson,  St.  Louis,  Mo. : 

Sir — .The  75,000  German- Americans  of  New  York  State  are  “solid”  against  the  third  term. 
Without  them  the  “syndicate”  has  no  chance  to  carry  this  State,  except  by  legislative  proxy, 
which  is  evidently  the  last  ditch  in  this  desperate  game  of  theirs. 

I  hope  that  the  third  term  will  not  be  saddled  on  the  party.  It  is  too  heavy  a  load,  and  ninety 
per  cent,  of  the  700,000  German  voters  in  the  Union  will  not  swallow  the  “hemlock”  cup. 

Grant  can  not  carry  this  State  on  that  account ;  but  we  apprehend  that  the  electoral  votes  of 
New  York  State  will,  in  event  of  his  nomination,  be  delivered  by  legislative  proxy,  which  the 
third-term  syndicate  is  quite  desperate  enough  to  attempt. 

Der  New  York  Republikaner  represents  truly  the  prevailing  sentiment  (in  this  great  State) 
among  our  Germans.  *  *  * 

You  ought  to  see  to  it  that  Illinois  does  not  kiss  the  third-term  toe  in  her  convention  —  then 
the  bottom  will  be  knocked  out  —  otherwise  it  is  my  prediction  that  the  senatorial  syndicate  will 
appear  at  Chicago,  with  the  electoral  vote  of  New  York  on  a  presentation  plate  for  the  third 
term,  or  its  substitute,  viz. :  No  one  than  “Roscoe  Conkling  ”  himself.  You  may  depend  upon 
it,  that  is  “  the  flattering  unction  which  they  lay  to  their  souls.” 

I  suppose  that  you  are  aware  that  I  drafted  the  call  which  was  issued  February  9,  1880,  by 
the  German-American  Republicans  of  New  York  State,  protesting  against  a  third-term,  and 
which  was  the  first  and  initiatory  step  in  this  State  against  the  third-term  syndicate.  Since  then 
numerous  other  steps  have  been  taken,  all  towards  the  same  purpose. 

Truly  yours,  J.  C.  F.  Byland, 

(Editor  of  the  New  York  Republikaner,  234  and  235  Broadway.) 


32 


Chicago,  III.,  April  16,  1880. 

Dear  Sir: — Why  don’t  you  prepare  pledges  for  circulation,  which  shall  bind  .Republicans 
to  oppose  Grant  if  he  be  nominated? 

I  propose  to  attend  the  convention  ;  meanwhile,  you  can  command  me  in  furtherance  of  the 
ends  which  it  will  seek  to  attain. 

Yours  truly, 

Henry  L.  Shepard,  Editor  Alliance. 

*  Springfield,  Mass.,  April  16,  1880. 

Henry  Hitchcock,  Esq. : 

Dear  Sir  —  I  sympathize  heartily  with  the  purpose  of  the  convention. 

I  attended  yesterday,  as  a  delegate,  our  Republican  State  Convention.  The  sentiment  which 
united  a  two-thirds  majority  of  the  convention  was  opposition  to  Grant.  *  *  *  There  have 
been  few  organizers  or  workers.  The  convention — a  very  strong,  intelligent  body  —  ex¬ 
pressed  the  spontaneous  sentiment  of  the  people,  the  sober  and  serious  convictions  of 
Massachusetts  Republicanism.  *  *  * 

May  I  suggest  to  you  some  points  from  the  Massachusetts  standpoint:  — 

1.  Our  people’s  objection  to  Grant,  while  it  rests  partly  on  the  adherence  to  the  no-third- 
term  tradition,  consists  chiefly,  I  think,  in  dislike  of  his  presidential  record,  his  character,  and 
his  associates.  Sincerely  yours, 

George  F.  Merriam. 

FROM  THE  DISTRICT  ATTORNEY  OF  LOUISVILLE,  KENTUCKY. 

Louisville,  Ky.,  April  27,  1880. 

My  Dear  Sir  —  I  intend  to  be  in  St.  Louis  on  May  6th.  I  am  in  full  sympathy  with  your 
movement,  and  will  do  any  thing  in  my  power  to  add  to  its  success.  Yours  truly, 

Gabriel  C.  Wharton. 

To  Hon.  John  B.  Henderson,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Grand  Island.  N.  C.,  May  3,  1880. 

To  F.  T.  Ledergerber,  Secretary: 

Dear  Sir  —  Your  communication  is  duly  received,  and  we  heartily  sympathize  with  the 
resolutions  of  the  anti-third-term  movement.  In  our  State  of  Nebraska  a  Grant  boom  of  any 
extent  never  has  prevailed,  and  whatever  existed  has  nearly  expired  since  the  wire-workers  of 
the  Grant-machine,  so  shameful  to  the  Republican  party,  packed  the  State  conventions  in 
Pennsylvania,  Missouri,  and  everywhere  they  could  get  a  hold.  Here  in  central  Nebraska  more 
than  seven-eighths  of  the  Republicans  are  opposed  to  a  third-term  candidate,  especially  our  Ger¬ 
man  population. 

We  sincerely  hope  that  the  convention  of  the  better  elements  of  the  Republican  psfryt  will  be 
instrumental,  that  at  the  National  Convention  in  Chicago  a  candidate  may  be  nominated  whom 
the  German  Republican  voters  can  heartily  support  to  the  end  of  a  successful  election  as 
President. 

We  oppose  strongly  the  idea  of  having  a  sovereign  again.  We  made  this  country  our  home, 
where  we  abjured  all  allegiance  and  fidelity^  to  princes , whosoever  they  are;  and  we  do  not  wish 
to  be  subjects  again  of  a  potentate  in  this  country.  This  is  the  general  sentiment  among  our 
German  population  here.  Very  respectfully  we  remain, 

.  Karl  Guse, 

William  Stolley, 

Worcester,  Mass.,  April  19,  1880. 

Mr.  F.  T.  Ledergerber. 

Dear  Sir  — I  believe  the  hour  calls  for  plain  outspoken  words  in  regard  to  our  duty  at  the 
present  time.  You  have  doubtless  seen  by  the  newspapers  that  Massachusetts  has  declared 
against  a  third  term.  *  *  *  I  look  upon  the  Republican  party  as  one  destined  in  the  future 

to  work  out  a  more  glorious  achievement  than  it  has  yet  accomplished.  Let  us  remember  our 
standard  bearer  should  be  a  man  that  we  can  trust  and  all  follow  without  one  deserter.  Mutiny 
at  the  present  means  defeat.  We  must  have  a  united  party,  a  solid  phalanx.  With  this  we 
shall  be  victorious;  without  it,  I  fear  defeat.  Yours  truly, 

.  E.  H.  Hill. 

Huntington,  Suffolk  County,  N.  Y.,  April  17,  1880. 

*  *  *  I  don’t  know  a  man  in  this  place  who  declares  his  preference  for  Grant.  If 

Chicago  won’t  give  us  something  better  than  Grant,  get  Cincinnati  to  give  us,  etc.  Faithfully, 

James  T.  McKay. 


33 


From  the  Editor  of  the  Indianapolis  News. 

Indianapolis,  April  26,  1880. 

Dear  Sir  —  I  have  your  invitation  to  attend  the  Anti-Third-Term  Convention  next  week, 
and  will  not  only  try  to  be  there,  but  shall  endeavor  to  induce  attendance  from  this  State. 

Fred.  L.  Ludergerber,  Esq.,  St.  Louis.  Yours  truly, 

J.  H.  Holliday. 

New  York,  April  5,  1880. 

Emory  S.  Foster,  Esq.,  Secretary,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Dear  Sir— Deeply  interested  in  the  matter  myself,  I  have  been  at  considerable  pains  during 
the  last  month  to  quietly  sound  my  friends  and  the  many  gentlemen  I  come  in  contact  with, 
who  are  with  me  Republican  in  politics.  The  deep-seated,  though  undemonstrated  feeling 
against  the  third  term  has  astonished  and  filled  me  with  satisfaction.  Often  where  I  expected 
a  doubtful  or  qualified  opposition,  I  was  delighted  to  find  an  intense  determination  against  the 
ambition  of  the  “Great  Sacrificer.”  The  sentiment  of  the  people  is  right;  they  lack  only 
organization.  I  am  very  truly  yours, 

Jas.  G.  Jones. 

FROM  THE  EDITOR  OF  “  THE  PUBLISHERS’  WEEKLY.” 

New  York,  May  4,  1880. 

My  Dear  Sir — I  believe  there  is  less  danger  to  the  Republican  party  in  temporary  defeat 
than  in  the  election  of  General  Grant  for  a  third  term,  and  conscientious  Republicans  will  fail 
of  their  duty  if  they  do  not  make  determined  opposition  —  first,  to  his  nomination;  if  necessary 
to  his  election.  The  Republican  party,  the  Republican  managers,  force  on  us  a  bad  candidate. 
I  hope  to  see  him  defeated.  We  shall  at  least,  as  good  Republicans,  succeed,  I  think,  in  restor¬ 
ing  the  Republican  majority  in  the  House  which  General  Grant  lost  to  us  in  his  second  term ; 
and  in  that  event,  a  good  Democratic  President  would  be  less  objectionable  than  a  bad  Repub¬ 
lican  one.  Truly  yours, 

R.  R.  Bowker. 

To  the  Secretary  Invitation  Committee,  St.  Louis  Convention. 

Covington,  Ky.,  April  16,  1880. 

Emery  S.  Foster,  Esq.,  Secretary,  St.  Louis,  Mo. ; 

Dear  Sir  —  I  am  heartily  in  sympathy  with  the  movement,  and  am  satisfied  that  a  very  large 
majority  of  the  white  voters  in  this  State  are  opposed  to  a  third  term  for  General  Grant.  They 
believe  his  nomination  would  be  unwise  and  dangerous.  The  party  is  almost  absolutely  certain  of 
defeat,  with  him  as  its  candidate. 

Very  truly  yours, 

D.  N.  Comingore. 

Madison,  Ind.,  April  23,  1880. 

Emory  S.  Foster,  Esq.,  St.  Louis,  Mo. : 

Dear  Sir  —  As  to  the  “third-term”  sentiment,  I  can  say,  that  so  far  as  this  city  and  county 
are  concerned,  there  is  very  little  of  it,* —  perhaps  not  twenty  Grant  men  in  the  county ;  no 
third-term  for  us !  *  *  *  *  * 

Yours  respectfully, 

G.  W.  Southwick. 

33  East  83d  Street,  May  3,  1880. 

Messrs.  Hitchcock,  Pretorius,  Finkelnburg,  etc. : 

Dear  Sir  —  I  have  received  your  invitation  to  attend  the  “National  Anti-third-term  Repub¬ 
lican  convention,”  in  St.  Louis,  on  May  6th,  and  beg  to  thank  you  for  the  honor.  Were  it 
feasible  for  me,  I  should  try  to  be  present,  and  at  least  add  one  to  the  numbers  which  I  trust 
may  emphasize  the  protest  against  the  renomination  of  Gen.  Grant. 

It  is  a  constant  surprise  to  me  that  intelligent  men  fail  to  realize  the  gravity  of  the  situation, 
when  a  Republic  proposes  to  break  throngh  the  only  barrier  against  prolonged  personal  power  in 
the  Executive.  That  apathy  is  itself  the  sign  that  the  Republic  is  slowly  making  ready  for  the 
repeated  experience  of  history.  Those  whose  eyes  areopen  should  “cry  aloud,”  and,  if  you 
will  allow  in  a  clergyman,  another  Biblical  phrase,  “the  trumpet  must  give  no  uncertain 
sound.”  Let  it  sound  through  the  country  the  determination  of  hosts  of  good  Republicans, 
who  have  voted  no  other  ticket  for  years,  to  refuse  their  suffrage  to  the  ambition  that  would  ask 
that  which  our  greatest  and  best  have  declined  to  solicit. 


34 


Let  it  say  out  frankly  that  hosts  of  Republicans  will  never  vote  to  bring  back  the  regime  that 
shamed  the  nation,  palsied  the  party,  and  demoralized  the  young  of  the  whole  land.  Let  it  say 
plainly  that  the  minority  which  holds  the  balance  of  power,  does  not  only  protest  beforehand 
against  this  fatal  nomination,  but  is  resolved  to  bolt  it  if  made !  What  that  means  we  have 
taught  our  masters  in  this  State. 

Wishing  you  all  success,  I  am,  yours  truly, 

R.  Heber  Newton. 

Greenfields  Mass.,  April  19,  1880. 

Dear  Sir — The  nomination  of  Gen.  Grant,  followed  by  mere  action  on  the  part  of  the 
Democrats,  would,  in  my  judgment,  render  Massachusetts  a  doubtful  State. 

Truly  Yours, 

Edward  E.  Lyman. 

Henry  Hitchcock,  Esq.,  Chairman,  etc. 

New  York,  April  23,  1880. 

Emory  S.  Foster  : 

Dear  Sir — It  is  my  good  fortune  to  come  in  contact  with  quite  a  large  number  of  Ameri¬ 
can  and  German  Republican  voters.  I  find  that  the  Germans  are  all  agreed  that  a  re-election 
for  a  third  term  is  a  dangerous  procedure,  and  has  a  tendency  to  establishing  a  bad  precedent, 
and  looks  too  much  to  personal  government.  They  are  consequently  opposed  to  a  third  term. 
I  am  very  sincerely  yours, 

J.  Sherman. 

FROM  EX-U.  S.  SENATOR  FOWLER,  OF  TENNESSEE. 

Washington,  D.  C.,  April  29,  1880. 

Hon.  John  B.  Henderson:  — 

Dear  Sir  :  — I 'congratulate  you  on  your  noble  speech,  and  the  decided  position  assumed  by 
Missouri  Republicans  against  the  ruinous  party  madness  manifested  by  that  great  party  which 
has  made  so  many  sacrifices  for  the  republic.  Weary  of  patriotic  effort,  the  leaders  have  sur¬ 
rendered  the  interests  of  the  country  to  the  hope  of  retaining  power.  Grant  loves  small  men 
and  those  whose  ambitions  and  desires  subordinate  to  the  means  of  gratification.  He  has  and 
will  prostitute  the  patronage  of  the  republic  to  the  basest  purposes.  His  disqualifications 
spring  as  much  from  his  innate  affections  as  from  the  influence  of  surrounding  circumstances. 

The  third-term  principle  is  dangerous,  and  threatens  the  ultimate  ruin  of  republican  princi¬ 
ples  in  the  country.  It  is  the  breaking  down  of  those  moral  restraints  imposed  by  experience 
and  conviction  on  the  exercise  of  party  ambition  and  personal  interests.  These  moral  bonds 
have  alone  preserved  our  liberties  and  institutions  from  ruin. 

I  am  not  now  about  to  discuss  the  questions  you  have  treated  so  ably.  I  can  support  no  man 
for  a  third  term,  and  Grant  has  no  claims  upon  the  American  people  that  entitle  nim  to  such 
an  honor  or  dishonor,  for  certainly  it  is  a  disgrace  to  countenance  so  destructive  a  passion  for 
power. 

I  hope  the  protest  you  are  making  may  be  sufficient  to  warn  the  American  people  of  their 
danger.  If  I  can  do  so,  I  will  be  with  you.  The  Republican  party  has  men  enough  of  ability 
for  President  without  resorting  to  so  gross  a  disregard  of  our  dearest  interests.  So  far  from 
wanting  a  strong  man,  if  Grant  were  that,  the  country  had  better  dispense  with  the  office 
entirely. 

I  hope  for  your  movement  the  greatest  success.  Yours  truly, 

Jos.  S.  Fowler. 

Caledonia,  Livingston  Co.,  N.  Y.,  April  20,  1880. 

E.  S.  Foster,  St.  Louis,  Mo. : 

Sir  —  Grant  will  cost  the  party  4  per  cent,  of  the  vote  here — and  I  think  more  if  we  can  have 
an  opposition  candidate  who  is  a  good  Republican. 

Grant  under  no  circumstances,  and  another  candidate  if  Grant  is  nominated  at  Chicago,  is 
what  we  want.  Respectfully,  W.  W.  Lewis. 

New  York,  April  15th,  1880. 

Emery  Foster,  Esq.  : 

Sir  —  When  we  -started  this  anti-third-term  movement  we  had  no  idea  that  we  would  meet 
with  the  success  we  have.  Myself  with  five  friends  started  at  my  residence,  held  a  meeting, 
passed  resolutions,  and  appointed  officers,  and  in  the  course  of  ten  days  found  it  would  not 
answer  the  requirements  of  the  call  to  hold  meetings  at  a  private  residence.  We  now  hold  our 


35 


meetings  on  Avenue  C,  and  things  are  progressing  finely  among  the  workingmen  of  this  district. 
The  only  time  I  have  to  work  in  the  cause  is  evenings,  being  employed  in  business  which  takes 
all  the  hours  of  the  day.  We  have  several  good  men  in  this  district  who  would  be  pleased  to 
attend  the  convention.  Time  and  money  are  wanting,  more  especially  the  money,  I  expect,  as 
they  are  all  mechanics,  but  well  posted  in  politics.  It  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  attend,  as 
I  have  not  the  time  to  spare.  The  feeling  here  is  very  strong  against  a  third  term,  and  the  work 
goes  bravely  on.  Hoping  we  shall  meet  with  success,  I  remain  yours  truly, 

Joseph  L.  Bailey. 

Boston-,  April  17,  1880. 

Hon.  Henry  Hitchcock,  Chairman: 

*  *  *  *  *  We  have  already  done  some  work  in  Massachusetts,  and  we  shall  continue 
to  exert  what  influence  we  may  have  in  the  same  direction. 

Our  convention  at  Worcester,  last  Thursday,  spoke  in  the  most  emphatic  way  against  Grant, 
and  it  is  evident  that  we  should  lose  many  thousand  votes  in  Massachusetts  if  he  is  nominated. 

Very  truly  yours,  George  G.  Crocker. 

FROM  THE  EDITOR  OF  “THE  BRISTOL  BANNER.” 

Bristol,  Ind.,  Aril  7,  1880. 

To  the  National  Republican  Anti-third-term  Convention,  St.  Louis,  Mo. : 

Gentlemen  —  Noav  my  candid  opinion  is  that  nine  out  of  every  ten  Republicans  in  this  Elk¬ 
hart  County  are  strongly  in  opposition  to  Grant,  only  as  a  third-term  candidate.  Again,  it  is 
my  honest  opinion  that  two  out  of  ever}7-  five  Republicans  of  this  Elkhart  County  will  vote  the 
Democratic  ticket,  if  Grant  is  made  the  nominee. 

Respectfully, 

C.  F.  Mosier. 

FROM  THE  MAYOR  OF  NEW  LISBON. 

New  Lisbon,  Ohio,  April  8,  1880. 

Emory  S.  Foster,  St.  Louis,  Mo.  : 

Kind  Sir — Yours  of  3d  inst.,  with  enclosure,  recieved  to-day.  In  reply,  I  am  an  anti-third 
termer  of  the  stalwart  kind;  should  estimate  (based  on  hearing  parties  speak  of  the  matter,  and 
reliable  reports)  that  about  one  hundred  out  of  voting  Republican  men  in  this  (centre)  township  of 
about  six  hundred,  would  not  vote  for  Grant,  if  nominated;  and  I  think  that  a  fair  part  of  the 
entire  party  in  at  least  the  ratio  of  one  hundred  out  of  every  six  hundred  Republican  voters  in 
this  county  would  not  vote  for  Grant,  if  nominated ;  and  the  same  proportion  of  the  counties 
north  of  this  county  would  do  the  same  thing.  Of  one  thing  be  assured,  that  if  driven  to  the 
nomination  of  Grant,  very  many  of  us  could  not  vote  next  fall,  or  else  vote  for  an  independent 
anti-third  termer,  and  thus  teach  such  leaders  as  Cameron  and  Conkling  a  lesson,  notwith¬ 
standing  the  above  treasonable  (?)  utterances  to  party  fealty.  I  have  in  the  past  always  been 
a  stalwart  Republican,  and  no  one  can  prevent  me  from  being  a  Republican  in  the  future;  but 
Republicanism  ends  with  two  terms  to  one  man  as  President  of  the  United  States.  If  any 
further  service  can  be  rendered  in  any  way,  advise  me. 

I  am  respectfully, 

J.  M.  Dickinson. 

Miamisburg,  Ohio,  March  27,  1880. 

Chairman  of  the  National  Republican  and  Third-Term  Executive  Committe: 

Sir  —  We,  as  privates  in  the  army  of  politicians,  do  not  get  that  fair  representation  with  which 
we  are  justly  entitled.  Stalwarts  map  out  a  line  of  campaign  suited  to  their  views  and  inter¬ 
ests,  entirely  ignoring'the  element  that  accomplishes  the  work,  viz.,  the  rank  and  file.  When  do 
you  see  the" views  of  a  man  in  comparative  obscurity  published  in  the  newspapers  of  the  land; 
on  the  contrary,  men  of  prominence  and  political  hucksters’  views  are  eagerly  sought  after  for 
publication;  thus  the  sentiment  of  a  very  small  minority  is  substituted  for  the  great  mass — the 
power  behind  the  throne — and  there  is  where  the  Republican  party  is  going  to  wake  up  to  a 
realization  of  its  mistakes,  if  these  men  of  prominence  in  politics  persist  in  forcing  Gen.  Grant 
on  the  people  as  a  presidential  candidate.  Here  in  my  own  locality,  men  who  are  stanch 
Republicans,  and  who  have  always  voted  the  Republican  ticket,  will  hesitate,  and  many  refuse 
to  sacrifice  this  inborn  principle  of  the  nation  within  them,  to  slaughter  their  best  convictions 
by  voting  for  Gen.  Grant.  The  earnest  prayer  of  enlightened  Democracy  is  for  Grant’s  nomi¬ 
nation  ;  they  plainly  see  victory  for  their  party  in  this  State  if  he  is  nominated.  Again  the 
Government,  since  its  organization  on  this  principle  of  unwritten  law,  has  been  steadily  advanc- 


36 


ing,  and  is  now  the  peer  of  any  nation  on  earth ;  'and  when  they  come  to  try  to  subvert  the  will 
of  the  people,  backed  up  by  history  of  the  past,  in  forcing  upon  them  an  untried,  hazardous,  and 
doubtful  experiment,  they  are  going  far  in  the  direction  of  a  defeat  to  the  Republican  party. 
It  has  been  advocated  by  men  of  great  height  in  politics,  that  when  you  get  a  good  man  for 
president,  keep  him  there  as  long  as  he  behaves  well,  even  for  life,  and  then  we  will  be  saved 
this  strife  and  agitation,  consequent  on  these  frequent  changes  in  office. 

Agitation  has  been  the  life  and  promoter  of  the  grand  institutions  that  our  country  is  blessed 
with,  and  whenever  we  settle  down  to  a  comatose  state  under  one-man-power,  believing  we  have 
the  right  man  in  the  right  place,  in  all  likelihood  we  will  be  waked  up  to  a  stern  reality  that 
we  have  surrendered  the  fundamental  principles  of  our  Government,  obtained  in  an  eight  long 
years  of  struggle  by  our  forefathers.  If  all  the  opposition  in  private  could  be  arrayed 
publicly,  it  would  necessitate  the  immediate  withdrawal  of  Gen.  Grant,  as  a  candidate ;  it  is  in 
justice  to  Gen.  Grant  that  it  should  be,  and  not  be  made  the  victim  of  representations  made  to 
him  by  his  powerful  political  friends,  who  are  trying  to  smother  this  opposition  to  a  third-term. 

John  H.  Coons. 


Quincy,  III.,  April  29,  1880. 

Gentlemen — Those  who  desire  to  reverse  the  precedents  set  by  Washington,  Jefferson, 
Madison,  Monroe,  and  Jackson,  and  elect  a  citizen  for  a  third  term,  must  show  either  that  a  great 
crisis  is  at  hand,  which  demands  exceptional  measures,  or  that  their  candidate  has  such  peculiar 
qualifications  for  the  office,  that  precedents,  even  when  set  by  such  men,  should  be  reversed 
for  him.  It  seems  to  me  that  their  persistent  attempts  to  prove  both  these  propositions  are 
marked  failures.  There  is  no  crisis ;  and  their  eulogies  of  the  ex-President,  begin  and  end  in 
assurances  that  he  would  not,  if  elected,  repeat  the  disastrous  policy  which  caused  general 
satisfaction  with  the  conclusion  of  his  eight  years’  reign. 

I  use  the  word  “reign”  advisedly;  for  many  prominent  supporters  of  the  third  term  avow 
that  they  advocate  Gen.  Grant’s  renomination  in  the  confident  hope  that,  if  elected,  as  no  Pres¬ 
ident  ever  has  been,  he  will  take  this  high  position,  and  use  it  in  a  manner  no  President  was  ever 
intended  to.  I  am,  gentlemen,  with  very  sincere  respect, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

William  Everett. 

Paducah,  Ky.,  May  8,  1880. 

Hon.  Emory  Foster,  Secretary,  etc.,  St.  Louis,  Mo. : 

My  Dear  Sir  —  I  am  in  sympathy  with  the  purposes  of  your  Convention,  and  am  fully 
aware  of  its  importance.  Tell  Hubbard  that  whatevr  he  may  assume  for  Kentucky,  he  may 
calculate  on  my  cordial  cooperation.  I  am  with  the  Convention,  even  though  its  resolutions 
extend  to  the  nomination  of  an  anti-third-term  candidate,  if  Grant  is  nominated  at  Chicago. 
And,  although  I  have  been  appointed  elector  for  this  district  by  the  Republican  State 
Convention  which  recently  met  at  Louisvile,  I  will  decline  that  position,  as  I  have  already 
intimated  I  would,  if  Grant  is  nominated  at  Chicago,  and  stump  the  State  on  behalf  of  the  anti- 
third-term  candidate.  Yours  truly, 

E.  W.  Bagby. 


Kansas  City,  Mo.,  May  2,  1880. 

Emory  S.  Foster,  Esq.,  Secretary  of  Anti-Third-Term  Republican  Executive  Committee, 
St.  Louis,  Mo. : 

Dear  Sir  —  The  Republicans  of  this  city  opposed  to  the  renomination  of  General  Grant, 
formed  an  Anti-Grant  Club  last  night,  and  elected  the  following  officers :  President,  Col.  R. 
H.  Hunt;  Secretary,  Henry  Stubenrauch.  The  following  gentlemen  were  chosen  as  delegates 
to  the  Anti-Third-Term  Convention  to  be  held  in  your  city  May  6th ;  *  *  *  * 

Yours  truly, 

Henry  Stubenbauch, 

Secretary  of  Club. 


F.  W.  HAYES,  DETROIT. 

Detroit,  Michigan,  April  15,  1880. 

F.  T.  Ledergerber,  Esq.,  Secretary : 

Dear  Sir  —  I  am  in  frill  sympathy  with  you  in  your  efforts  to  save  the  Republican  party 
from  the  responsibility  of  nominating  any  person  for  a  third  term,  and  will  gladly  render  all  the 
assistance  I  can  to  make  your  labors  successful.  *  *  * 

Very  respectfully, 

F.  W.  Hayes. 


37 


THE  “STRONG  MAN”  IDEA. 

Williams  College,  Williamstown,  Mass.,  April  19. 

Henry  Hitchcock,  Esq. : 

Dfar  Sir —  *  *  *  Massachusetts  has  just  spoken  in  a  decisive  manner  against  the  can¬ 
didacy  of  Gen.  Grant,  and  I  trust  such  action  will  be  taken  by  the  Republicans  before  the  con¬ 
vention  at  Chicago  as  shall  convince  the  delegates  who  are  to  meet  there  that  the  country  is  not 
ready  to  depart  from  the  safe  custom  established  b}7  the  example  of  all  other  former  Presidents, 
excepting  the  one  who  now  seems  anxious  for  a  third  term. 

I  believe  a  majority  of  the  people  would  regret  to  see  the  administration  again  conducted  as 
it  was  under  Gen.  Grant;  that  they  are  opposed  to  a  third  term,  and  to  the  idea  that  a  President 
has  an}7  power  to  reach  the  presidential  chair  by  armed  force,  by  acting  the  “strong  man,” 
They  believe  he  is  a  private  citizen  until  he  is  inaugurated  by  the  regularly-constituted  servants 
of  the  people.  Truly  yours, 

P.  A.  Chadbourne. 

CONGRESSMEN  IN  DANGER, 

Muscatine,  Ia.,  April  27,  1880. 

Henry  Hitchcock,  Esq.  : 

Dear  Sir  —  *  *  *  *  I  hope  great  good  will  result  from  the  action  of  the  convention. 

Iowa,  as  a  State,  will  vote  for  the  Chicago  nominee,  be  it  Gen.  Grant  or  any  other ;  but  should 
Gen.  Grant  be  the  nominee,  I  fear  we  will  lose  two,  if  not  three,  of  our  Congressmen.  If  the 
Democrats  make  a  judicious  nomination,  I  do  not  believe  Gen.  Grant  can  be  elected. 

Yours  truly. 

G.  B.  Denison, 

Chairman  Republican  County  Committee. 

CLEAVE  TO  THE  PRINCIPLE. 

Catlettbsurg,  Ky.,  April  30,  1880. 

Hon.  Henry  Hitchcock  : 

Dear  Sir  —  I  hope  that  the  moral  effect  of  the  convention  of  the  6th  of  May  will  prevent 
the  nomination  of  Gen.  Grant. 

I  permit  no  man  to  go  before  me  in  honoring  Gen.  Grant,  but  am  unwilling  to  sap  the  life  of 
the  nation  to  gratify  an  ambition  that  should  be  now  satiated.  Our  debt  to  him  is  great,  but 
not  so  great  as  to  require  self-sacrifice.  It  would  have  been  better  to  have  avoided  the  sacrifice 
of  500,000  lives  and  $5,000,000,000  of  treasure,  and  had  two  governments  with  the  Republican 
principle  more  or  less  strong  actuating  each,  than  to  have  saved  the  nation  at  such  frightful  cost 
to  introduce  the  monarchical  principle  for  the  personal  benefit  of  our  successful  general.  I  have 
no  personal  hostility  to  Gen.  Grant,  and  if  it  involved  no  sacrifice  of  principle,  could  cheerfully 
support  him;  but  I  do  believe,  in  common  with  the  masses  of  the  party,  in  the  unwritten  law, 
which  has  as  much  force  as  the  English  (an  unwritten)  constitution,  and  therefore  cleave  to  the 
principle  and  reject  the  man.  Those  who  urge  him  upon  the  party  against  its  wish  are  endan¬ 
gering  his  glory,  and  for  this  reason  I  cannot  believe  them  to  be  in  the  main  his  friends,  but 
schemers  seeking  self  at  the  enormous  price  of  another’s  reputation. 

In  this  emergency  we  should  not  consult  our  personal  preferences,  but  national  safety  and 
well-being.  The  nation  outweighs  any  man’s  fortunes. 

It  is  now  clear  that  the  people  do  not  demand  his  nomination.  Then  why  force  it  upon 
them?  The  machine,  only,  has  spoken  in  New  Yrork,  Pennsylvania  and  Kentucky.  Unless 
the  gods  have  made  them  mad,  they  ought  not  to  attempt  to  make  men  vote  as  they  wish,  re¬ 
gardless  of  the  voter’s  will.  The  “strong-man”  argument  means  nothing  or  too  much.  If  it 
mean  back-bone,  the  “Maine  steal”  showed  that  Blaine  has  it;  resumption  showed  that  Sher¬ 
man  has  it;  the  Franco-Prussian  war  showed  that  Washburne  has  it;  and  the  reputation  of 
Senator  Edmunds  in  Congress  shows  his  patriotism  and  courage  to  be  as  rock-ribbed  and  strong 
as  the  mountains  of  his  native  State.  If  it  mean  more  than  this,  the  conservative,  law-abiding 
sentiment  of  the  nation  will  grind  the  party  supporting  it  into  dust;  or  if  our  Goliath  bring 
down  ruin  upon  our  enemies,  the  temple  of  constitutional  government  will  fall  also.  It  is  a 
cruel  necessity  that  will  compel  us  to  choose  either  horn  of  the  dilemma.  Grant  is  the  symbol 
of  force,  and  his  nomination  is  likely  to  beget  opposing  force.  We  should  not  threaten  force, 
nor  should  we  cower  before  it.  Let  us  declare  for  honest  money,  a  free  and  fair  election  or  a 
fair  fight,  and  we  will  surely  win ;  but  if  we  begin  with  driving  away  our  friends,  and  embolden 
our  enemies,  who  have  not  recovered  their  courage  since  the  war,  by  crying  “but  one  man  can 
win,”  alas!  for  our  hopes.  If  Gen.  Grant  should  be  elected,  the  indications  are  that  he  would 


38 


build  a  personal  pai'ty ;  and  this  means  a  Grant  party  ruled  by  Grant,  personal  government, 
centralization.  In  the  face  of  which  the  people  would  for  at  least  a  period,  until  frightened  by 
its  excesses,  prefer  a  party  with  an  opposite  tendency. 

Before  we  nominate  Gen.  Grant,  we  should  honestly  answer  these  questions :  What  strong 
man  gave  Mississippi,  Alabama,  and  Arkansas,  to  the  Democracy?  And  rent  the  Republican 
party?  What  lost  the  elections  of  1874?  What  nearly  lost  the  election  of  1876?  Gen.  Grant’s 
nomination  involves  a  defensive  campaign,  and  a  disputed  election  —  possibly  civil  war;  and 
when  we  fight  over  a  disputed  election  we  are  Mexicanized.  Any  other  candidate  secures  an 
aggressive  campaign  and  a  decisive  peaceful  victory. 

Can  we  do  our  enemy  a  greater  service  than  to  give  him  the  first  principle  (third-term)  he 
has  had  for  a  platform  for  twenty  years?  Can  we  better  secure  our  own  defeat? 

As  a  Southerner  who  never  cast  a  vote  disloyal  to  the  nation,  I  am  bold  to  say,  that  it  is  not 
decent  for  the  South,  that  can  give  no  help  in  the  hour  of  battle,  to  force  a  candidate  upon 
the  States  that  must  elect  and  plan  a  campaign  that  they  must  win. 

In  1861  Ohio  and  Indiana  reached  out  their  strong  arms  and  saved  Kentucky  to  the  Union, 
although  the  effort  whitened  our  fields  with  the  bleaching  bones  of  their  sons.  As  a  native 
Kentuckian,  I  feel  that  it  was  not  generous,  but  ungrateful  for  Kentucky  to  forget  this  sacrifice 
and  dictate  the  nomination  of  a  candidate  distasteful  to  them.  It  wa3  not  Kentucky  that  spoke, 
but  the  lust  of  the  politician  and  the  craven  fear  of  her  most  ignorant  voters. 

Kentucky  will  endorse  the  action  of  her  district  delegates  who  refuse  to  be  bound  by  State 
instructions. 

If  your  movement  fails,  I  fear  the  history  of  the  Kepublican  party  is  ended,  and  with  it  the 
reign  of  Northern  civilization.  That  will  be  a  dark  day.  As  the  alien  and  sedition  laws  caused 
Southern  civilization  to  dominate  this  land  for  sixty  years,  so  will  the  third  term  stay  the  hand 
of  progress  for  years  —  perhaps  forever.  It  is  a  red-hot  shame  that  one  man’s  ambition  should 
hange  the  scale  of  a  conflict  between  two  civilizations. 

Respectfully, 

R.  C.  Burns. 
Elkhart,  Ind.,  May  1,  1880. 

Henry  Hitchcock,  Chairman,  etc. : 

Dear  Sir  —  I  am  opposed  to  the  nomination  of  Grant: 

First.  Because  to  elect  any  man  to  the  presidency  for  a  third  term  is  to  break  down  one  of 
the  safeguards  of  the  republic. 

Second.  Because  he  can  not  be  elected,  and  his  nomination,  and  certain  defeat,  would  place 
the  rebel  Democracy  in  full  possession  of  every  department  of  the  government;  and  thus  Grant 
would,  by  his  third  effort  for  the  presidency,  surrender  to  the  rebel  generals  nearly  everything 
that  Lee  surrendered  to  him  at  Appomatox. 

Third.  Because  he  ought  not  to  be  elected  for  the  reason  that  all  his  patronage  is  already 
mortgaged  to  the  men  whose  questionable  conduct,  in  Grant’s  previous  administration,  nearly 
destroyed  the  Republican  party. 

Fourth.  He  is  now  a  party  to  the  fraudulent  transactions  that  are  employed  to  secure  his 
nomination,  and  brought  to  shame  and  mortification  his  former  supporters,  by  running  from 
place  to  place  to  secure  the  nomination,  like  a  two-year-old  boy  crying  for  a  tin  whistle. 

Grant  could  not  carry  either  of  the  following  States:  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Connecticut, 
Ohio,  Indiana,  "Wisconsin,  California,  or  Oregon,  nor  one  of  the  late  slave  States,  and  bis  nomi¬ 
nation  would  make  at  least  four  of  the  other  States  doubtful.  I  cannot  but  hope  that  your 
convention  will  do  much  to  save  the  Republican  party  and  the  nation. 

Truly  yours,  M.  F.  Shuey. 

Muscatine,  Ia.,  April  30,  1880. 

Fred.  T.  Ledergerber,  Secretary,  St.  Louis,  Mo.  : 

Dear  Sir  —  Permit  me  to  express  my  hearty  sympathy  with  the  obiect  of  the  convention,  as 
set  forth  in  the  call  for  the  same.  While  the  objections  to  a  third  presidential  term  are  suffi¬ 
ciently  great  to  attract  the  attention  of  all  thoughtful  and  patriotic  citizens,  they  should  be  par¬ 
ticularly  emphasized  in  the  case  of  Gen.  Grant.  The  abuses  and  corruption  which  characterized 
his  previous  administration  not  only  demonstrated  his  unfitness  for  the  presidency,  but  alienated 
a  large  and  influential  body  of  voters  from  the  Republican  party,  thereby  enabling  the  Democ¬ 
racy  to  gainAontrol  of  Congress  —  an  event  to  be  deplored,  not  only  as  a  disaster  to  the  Repub¬ 
lican  party,  but  as  a  national  calamity,  and  a  constant  menace  to  good  government. 

While  the  primary  object  of  your  convention  is  to  avert  the  impending  danger  of  the  nonii 
nation  of  Gen.  Grant  at  the  Chicago  convention,  it  should  be  your  duty  as  well  as  your  privi 


/ 


39 


lege,  to  denounce,  without  hesitation  and  without  reserve,  the  nomination  of  any  candidate  who 
has  not  a  record  above  the  breath  of  suspicion,  and  to  demand  in  the  name  of  all  liepublicans 
who  love  good  government  and  their  country  more  than  their  party,  the  nomination  of  some 
statesman  of  ability^  and  unquestioned  integrity,  who  can  command  the  support  of  the  large 
and  increasing  bod}7-  of  thoughtful  and  independent  voters,  whose  views  have  been  expressed  to 
some  extent  by  the  Independent  Republican  Committee  of  New  York,  the  National  Republican 
League  of  Philadelphia,  and  the  convention  of  Young  Republicans  of  Massachusetts. 

With  the  hope  that  your  convention  will  be  harmonious,  and  that  its  action  will  be  such  as 
to  exert  a  powerful  influence  upon  the  Chicago  convention,  in  the  interest  of  a  good  govern¬ 
ment,  I  am  very  truly  yours.  W.  A.  Clark. 

FROM  A  WEST  VIRGINIA  EDITOR. 


Wheeling,  W.  Va.,  April  24. 

Dear  Sir  —  Your  letter  of  the  22d  to  hand.  I  would  like  to  be  present  at  your  Anti-Third- 
Term  Convention  of  May  6,  but  fear  I  cannot  be.  Our.'paper’is  strongly  committed  against 
Grant’s  nomination,  and  we  are  greatly  in  hopes  he  can  be  defeated  at  Chicago. 

Ex-  Gov.  F.  H.  Pierpont,  Fairmount,  Marion  County,  W.  Va.,  is  one  of  the  most  prominent 
opponents  of  Grant  in  this  State.  No  Republican  paper  in  the  State  supports  Grant. 

Very  truly. 

A.  W.  Campbell, 

(Editor  Intelligencer .) 


Hundreds  of  other  letters  were  received  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  containing  the  same 
views  as  are  contained  in  these  published. 


L 


MORE  EXPRESSION  OF  VIEWS. 


On  motion  of  Mr.  Fox,  Mr.  R.  A.  Hill,  of  Indiana,  was  invited  to  address  the  convention. 
Mr.  Hill,  on  taking  the  platform,  delivered  an  eloquent  and  earnest  address.  He  said  the  friends 
of  Gen.  Grant  came  before  the  people  asking  them  to  disregard  the  precedent  established  and 
recognized  for  generations,  in  order  that  he  might  hold  an  office.  The  precedent  was  not  adopted 
for  the  first  century  of  the  republic,  but  for  all  time,  as  long  as  the  republic  should  exist.  It 
was  adopted  as  a  protection  and  defence  against  the  danger  of  a  man  of  uncertain  patriotism 
and  undue  ambition.  This  government  was  established  for  a  permanency.  When  our  fathers 
chose  the  emblem  of  our  nationality  they  rejected  the  design  of  a  flag  with  the  tree  of  liberty 
upon  it,  beneath  the  branches  of  which  the  oppressed  of  all  nations  might  find  shelter.  They 
said  this  would  not  do ;  the  storms  of  heaven  would  rend  it,  the  worm  would  bore  it  to  the 
heart,  and  it  would  die.  The  next  design  offered  contained  a  pyramid,  fche  most  lasting  of 
architectural  structures,  but  the  fathers  said,  even  mountains  would  wear  away ;  and  this  was 
also  rejected.  Then  they  chose  the  red  from  the  rosy  dawn,  and  the  field  of  blue  from  the 
expanse  of  heaven  ;  this  they  studded  with  thirteen  of  the  brightest  fixed  stars  of  the  firmament, 
and  that  was  the  design  adopted.  Why  should  the  honored  precedent  of  a  generation  be  violated 
for  one  man?  No  one  man  was  a  necessity  for  forty  millions  of  people.  It  was  now  well 
known  that  the  call  for  Grant  was  not  the  spontaneous  expression  of  a  people’s  desire,  but  was 
an  artificial  excitement  worked  up  by  designing  men.  The  need  for  a  strong  government  was 
a  delusion;  the  government  to-day  was  the  strongest  on  earth.  Its  strength  had  been  demon¬ 
strated  in  no  doubtful  way.  The  proposition  to  place  the  power  in  one  man’s  hands  must  rest 
on  the  claim  that  the  vices  were  on  the  part  of  the  governed,  and  the  virtues  were  with  those 
who  govern  —  a  claim  which  was  in  direct  conflict  with  the  whole  theory  of  American  institu¬ 
tions.  Mr.  Hill’s  speech  was  warmly  applauded. 

THE  PLATFORM. 

In  pursuance  of  the  demand,  and  representing  the  convictions  of  what  we  believe  to  be  a  ma¬ 
jority  of  the  Republican  party  throughout  the  Union,  this  convention  of  Republicans  has 
assembled  for  the  purpose  of  declaring  those  convictions,  with  reference  to  the  present  aspect 
of  political  affairs.  Their  deliberate  and  emphatic  expression  is  especially  demanded  in  view 
of  the  'determined  efforts  made  to  force  upon  the  party  the  nomination  of  a  candidate  for  the 
Presidency  for  a  third  term,  in  defiance  not  only  of  the  traditions  of  the  government  as  estab¬ 
lished  by  its  founders,  and  consecrated  by  unbroken  and  venerable  usage  and  prescription  down 
to  the  present  time,  but  also  of  the  solemn  declarations  of  the  Republican  party  through  its 
conventions  in  the  largest  and  controlling  Republican  States,  reaffirmed  by  its  representatives 
in  the  popular  branch  of  Congress,  and  adopted  by  the  entire  party  in  the  declaration  of  its 
latest  Presidential  candidate ;  be  it  therefore 


40 


Resolved,  That  the  members  of  this  convention,  for  themselves  and  those  whom  they  repre¬ 
sent,  hereby  reaffirm  their  devotion  to  the  principles  of  the  Republican  party  as  heretofore  set 
forth  by  its" authorized  representatives.  And  in  view  of  present  exigencies,  we  do  especially 
reaffirm  the  recent  declarations  of  State  Republican  conventions,  as  follows: — 

By  the  convention  of  New  York,  1875 :  “  We  declare  our  unalterable  opposition  to  the  selec¬ 
tion"  of  any  President  for  a  third  term.” 

By  the  State  convention  of  Pennsylvania,  1875,  reaffirmed  in  1876:  “We  are  unalterably 
opposed  to  the  election  to  the  presidency  of  any  person  for  a  third  term.” 

By  the  State  of  Ohio :  “  The  observance  of  W ashington’s  example  will  be  in  the  future,  as  it 
has  been  in  the  past,  regarded  as  a  fundamental  rule  in  the  unwritten  law  of  the  Republic.” 

By  the  Massachusetts  Republican  convention,  1875:  “Sound  reason,  as  well  as  the  wise  and 
unbroken  usage  of  the  Republic,  illustrated  by  the  example  of  Washington,  requires  that  the 
term  of  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  United  States  should  not  exceed  a  second  term.” 

Like  sentiments  having  been  announced  by  the  Republican  convention  of  Minnesota  and 
other  Republican  States,  and  having  been  affirmed  in  1875  by  an  overwhelming  majority  of  both 
political  parties  in  the  national  House  of  Representatives  in  the  following  words: 

“  That  the  precedent  established  by  Washington  and  other  Presidents  of  the  United  States,  in 
retiring  from  the  Presidential  office  after  their  second  term,  has  become  by  universal  concur¬ 
rence  a  part  of  our  republican  system  of  government,  and  that  any  departure  from  this  time- 
honored  custom  would  be  unwise,  unpatriotic,  and  fraught  with  peril  to  our  free  institutions.” 

Resolved,  That  the  nomination  of  a  third-term  candidate  is  especially  to  be  deprecated,  because 
it  will  unavoidably  put  the  Republican  party  on  the  defensive;  because  it  will  revive  the  mem¬ 
ory  of  public  scandals  and  official  corruption  which  brought  our  party  to  the  verge  of  ruin,  and 
will  again  alienate  a  large  and  powerful  body  of  voters,  without  whose  aid  success  is  neither 
possible  nor  deserved;  while  in  the  character  and  surroundings  of  the  third-term  candidate  we 
find  no  sufficient  guarantee  against  their  reoccurrence,  but  rather  a  renewed  menace  in  the 
history  of  the  men  who  are  loudest  in  his  support. 

Resolved,  That  Ave  believe  that  the  questions  now  agitating  the  public  mind,  connected  as  they 
are  with  the  currency,  the  tariff,  the  civil  service,  the  railroads  and  other  means  of  intercom¬ 
munication,  require  the  talents  of  a  trained  statesman.  We  find  objections  to  the  third-term 
nomination  now  urged  upon  the  country  also  in  that  it  would  substitute  a  dangerous  tendency 
to  personal  government,  for  a  determined  and  unwearied  effort  for  this  the  reform  of  the  civil 
service ;  that  reform,  fearless  and  thorough,  we  declare  to  be  vital  to  the  welfare  and  safety  of 
the  republic  itself. 

Resolved,  That  as  Republicans  we  cannot  be  hero  worshippers ;  and  we  demand  from  a  party 
without  a  master,  the  nomination  of  a  candidate  without  a  stain. 

Resolved,  That  a  national  committee  of  100  be  appointed  and  instructed,  in  the  event  of  the 
nomination  of  G-e  Aral  Grant,  to  meet  in  the  city  of  New  York,  at  the  call  of  the  chairman  of 
this  committee,  and  then  to  act  in  such  manner  as  they  shall  then  deem  best  to  carry  out  the 
i  spirit  and  purpose  of  these  resolutions;  the  said  committee  to  be  selected  by  a  committee  of 

eleven,  and  published  at  its  earliest  convenience. 

Mr.  G.  L.  Wright,  St.  Louis,  nominated  the  following  as  the  committee  of  eleven  to  select  a 
national  committee  of  one  hundred:  Lucien  Eaton,  Emil  Pretorius,  and  Henry  Hitchcock,  of 
Missouri;  E.  C.  Hubbard,  of  Kentucky;  W.  S.  Allerton,  New  York;  J.  W.  Carter,  Massachu¬ 
setts;  E.  R.  Wood,  Pennsylvania ;  J.  H.  Jones,  Ohio ;  W  .  W.  Williams,  Minnesota ;  R.  A.  Hill, 
Indiana;  Bluford  Wilson,  Illinois. 

On  motion  of  Col.  Wilson,  of  Illinois,  the  names  of  Mr.  F.  W.  Whitridge,  of  New  York, 
and  Gen.  Henderson,  of  St.  Louis,  were  added  to  the  committee. 

Isador  Bush  moved  the  appointment  of  a  committee  of  five  to  present  the  proceedings  of  the 
convention  to  the  Chicago  Convention.  Carried. 

The  chair  named  the  following  gentlemen  to  act:  E.  C.  Hubbard,  of  Kentucky;  Bluford 
Wilson,  R.  A.  Hill  of  Indiana;  E.  R.  Wood,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  John  M.  Carter,  of  Massa¬ 
chusetts. 

Col.  Bluford  Wilson,  of  Illinois,  offered  the  following: 

Resolved,  That  the  cordial  thanks  of  this  convention  be,  and  the  same  are  hereby  extended  to 
the  various  local  committees  for  their  efforts,  crowned  as  they  have  been  with  such  gratifying 
success,  to  provide  for  the  comfortable  and  convenient  transaction  of  the  business  of  this 
meeting. 

Adjourned  sine  die. 

EUGENE  A.  GUILBERT, 

Attest:  JOHN  B.  HENDERSON,  Secretary. 

Chairman. 


